Tall Buildings

Aim

To create a unified and agreed set of guidelines for architects, engineers, contractors and FM on the specific issues around buildings where the engineering changes due to the height.

To reduce design risk which in turn reduces construction and service risk, and better informs the decisions that creates the balance between construction and service costs consisting of:

Good Design Principles

Defining best practice in the UK

Identifying any relevant standards, codes or regulations

Defining Tall Buildings in the context of the guidance

For the purposes of this work on the services within tall buildings it is considered that “tall” refers to the height at which the engineering changes and additional considerations are necessary in order to ensure a safe and efficient system.

Project members

Contractors and system engineers who can contribute useful knowledge to improve quality in the industry.

Subjects covered so far

pressure systems, design and safety

pipe and jointing selection

anchoring and expansion

fire systems (sprinklers, dry risers)

pipe and joint selection

large VRF systems

cold water service separation

Guidance

Our fully trained team offers expert advice on technical problems that are encountered by members on a daily basis. Whether it is clarification on regulations, or specific design advice, the team is on hand to help throughout the entire life cycle of your project. From design to installation, commissioning to maintenance.

The project partners working together on this subject are BESA, ECA and CIBSE so the guide will encompass all aspects of Mechanical Engineering Projects in tall buildings, having technical depth yet being easy to read and use in practice.

Guidance will be developed on a sub-topic by sub-topic basis to build a suite on tall buildings that will eventually be compiled into one final publication. By maintaining this format the guidance will be easy to update with strong links between sub-topic publications and give us the opportunity to develop short (4 page) summary publications backed by more in-depth detailed publications. Case studies will be used to support the material written and show the guidance in practice.

We are actively exploring the use of an online WIKI system as the publishing mechanism with the support of downloadable pdf documents.

Once complete the guidance will be free to partner members as a member benefit.

Tall Buildings Wiki

BESA has launched a ‘wiki’ to help it develop the building services industry’s first technical guidance and standards for systems in tall buildings. For further information or to join the wiki task please email: mark.oakes@theBESA.com.

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