Specifier
Focus On Janet T Beckett: CIBSE Design Engineer and Director at Carbon Saver UK
6 December 2013, 12:14:09
For the fourth article in our ‘Focus On’ blog series, I spoke to Janet T Beckett - CIBSE HVAC Engineer, Low Carbon Consultant and Director at Carbon Saver UK.
Tell us a little about yourself…
I am a heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) design engineer, which led into an interest and further qualifications in low carbon building design and architectural engineering, a natural extension of my existing experience and skills.
What does your typical day look like?
Most of my work is office based, however, the good thing about being a building services design engineer is that we hardly ever have two days which are the same, this certainly keeps the job interesting. This week for example on Tuesday I had a meeting in the morning about progressing BIM (Building Information Modelling) for SMEs (small or medium enterprises) with the BIM4SMEs government task group at an Architect’s office in Leeds. In the afternoon I was on site witnessing the final testing and commissioning of the ventilation systems with the contractor on some zero carbon mansions to ensure compliance with Building Regulations.
The following day I had a trip to London for a meeting at the CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) headquarters in London to discuss the importance of verifying energy performance certificates and how we might best achieve this. For a flavour of how day to day is for me and other engineers, try following @mydayengineer #mydayengineering on twitter (or me @carbonsaveruk!) there is a real variety on there.
Who do you work closely with?
We work very closely with Architects and other design team professionals, structural engineers, quantity surveyors etc together as a team with the client to determine the best value, best fit solutions for a low carbon building, which will also meet the budget. We also do work with friendly contractors and sometimes directly with clients who are building or refurbishing buildings to help them navigate the minefield of information and choices available to them. Mainly we are very lucky and get to work with people we like and who we also get along well with.
What resources do you use regularly?
CIBSE Guides and Knowledge series are the building services design engineers' bible, we use these all the time, there are 1119 CIBSE publications to help us. We also have to refer to literally 1000’s of industry standards, guidance notes and regulatory documents as well as manufacturers' specific information and sector specific documents. So if anyone is wondering why I do not always have all the answers in my head, that’s the reason, but I do always know where to go and look for the answer.
We use specialist IES VE Pro software for dynamic thermal building simulation 3D building modelling, also Hevacomp, excel spreadsheets, lots of emails and as an occasional treat good old fashioned pencils, paper and felt tip pens for creative concepts.
How do you find this information and how easily?
Books in the office in hard copy. Online we use specialist search engines such as IHS Construction information service, Barbour, CIBSE online knowledge database and manufacturers' catalogues. Sometimes I may ask a colleague or “phone a friend” or chat to a technical representative for a second opinion and of course we do use Google.
You have to know what you are looking for and what information to trust and what to disregard, this comes with years of experience, not everything in writing these days is correct. We can spot a blagger a mile off, so don’t even try it. :-)
How do you specify products?
With complete professional impartiality, this is what differentiates us from supplier/specifiers and installer/specifiers. Our professional code of conduct means we have no affiliation with a product or supplier. We match the best products for the systems we design which will suit the client's specific requirements and budget. We want the client to be happy and comfortable in their new building with the lowest energy use possible.
Further information
Janet T Beckett is the Director at Carbon Saver UK, a team of CIBSE Low Carbon Consultants, Energy Performance Assessors, Chartered Building Services Engineers specialising in designing low cost, low carbon buildings.
You can follow Janet (@carbonsaveruk) on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Do you specify building products?
If you’re interested in featuring in our ‘Focus on’ blog series, or would like more information about Barbour Product Search, please contact Grace Lewis, Interim Editor: grace.lewis@barbourproductsearch.info.
Posted by:
Grace Lewis
Content & Community Manager
Follow @Grace_Barbour on Twitter
Focus On Mark Bouch: Chartered Architectural Technologist at Clague Architects
8 November 2013, 12:14:09
For the third article in our ‘Focus On’ blog series, I spoke to Mark Bouch at Clague Architects.
Tell us a little about yourself…
I am a Chartered Architectural Technologist working for Clague Architects, a multi disciplinary practice with offices in Canterbury, Harpenden and London.
I joined Clague just over three years ago following a long period of sole trading, a move taken to progress my career and allow me to become involved in larger, more technical projects. Earlier this year I successfully completed my progression to become a fully Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.
My day in the office
I am normally at my desk by 7.30am, it's a good time of the day to check through any emails and plan the day's work before the phone starts ringing.
My projects are wide ranging and have included health centres, bespoke housing, a structural glass extension and large social housing projects.
My workload can be varied from one day to the next, I may be drawing details one day and writing specifications another; I may be out at site meetings or sat at the desk cross checking manufacturers' drawings....so a mixed variety of work, but with the end goal of delivering the project on time to a high standard.
Who do you work closely with?
Within the company I work with a close knit team of four; a partner of the company, an Architect, myself and a younger technician. This range of professions within a single team allows us to take projects from conception to completion between ourselves. Working together also allows us to draw on the combined knowledge and sharing of information at each stage of a project, ensuring we provide the best possible service.
The variety of projects that we undertake brings us together with a wide range of clients - from the individual home owner through to the large national house builders. We deal extensively with contractors and numerous other construction professionals as part of the design process.
What resources do you use regularly?
Gone are the days where I use my drawing board to produce drawings, my world now revolves around my laptop. I use Autocad for all my drawing projects, backed up by word and excel documents to produce general specifications and schedules and NBS for projects requiring full specifications.
As a practice we are committed to moving forward on BIM, so as with everything, the technology moves on and the programmes we use change to improve our service to clients and integration with other consultants.
How do you specify products and keep up to date with the latest news?
The internet has become the font of all knowledge for sourcing information and the library of brochures in the offices has greatly diminished over the last few years.
Having previously been a recipient of the big red Barbour Compendium for many years in the past, Barbour has been part of my professional life for as long as I can remember, and now like all other aspects of my work, the Barbour Product Search icon is on my desktop to allow me to search for any products at the click of a button. The ability to view a number of suppliers and have a one-click access to their website is a great time saver.
Quite often I will have a product in mind for a project or we may be lead by the contractor or client on a design and build project, but when there is an opportunity to be more experimental, it's always nice to be able to look for a product type using the search function and be offered a variety of companies and products to choose from.
I am a great follower of social media and use Twitter and LinkedIn to keep up to date with construction news, comments and discussions.
As the CPD co-ordinator for Clague, it is my responsibility to ensure that we invite companies to present to us that will continue to move the practice forward with technical advances in materials and sustainable design. This personal way of learning has become invaluable on both current and upcoming projects.
And finally, what are your suggestions for the future of specification?
I'm quite sure that as technology progresses, so will the level of products that are available - along with the integrated technologies available to use within the buildings we design.
So the limits will only be set by our imagination to design and the desire to push detailing to the maximum for our clients...
Further information
Clague is an award-winning multidisciplinary design practice consisting of Architects, Interior Designers, Historic Building Consultants and Urban Designers, with over 60 people based in offices in Canterbury, Harpenden and London.
You can follow Mark (@mark_msb) and Clague (@ClagueLLP) on Twitter. You can also connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
Do you specify building products?
If you’re interested in featuring your company in our ‘Focus on’ blog series, or would like more information about Barbour Product Search, please contact Grace Lewis, Interim Editor: grace.lewis@barbourproductsearch.info.
Posted by:
Grace Lewis
Content & Community Manager
Follow @Grace_Barbour on Twitter
Focus On Mark Wilson: Chartered Architectural Technologist at Design Office Architectural Ltd
25 September 2013, 10:20:19
For the second article in our ‘Focus On’ blog series, I spoke to Mark Wilson of Design Office Architectural Ltd and BD Expert.
Tell us a little about yourself…
I am a Chartered Architectural Technologist and passionate about getting building design right; not only the aesthetic, but the way the design and assembly of materials that form the building or building part, work together to form the detail, and the way the details work together to form that large picture.
My practice Design Office Architectural Ltd began over fourteen years ago. I started out as a one man operation and have had no cause to alter that set up. Over that period my daily routine has altered significantly; largely as a result of developments in communications technology - with email, and more recently social media. I suppose the latter is still something you can either choose to do, or simply opt out. But email!? The greatest loss must have been to the post office, as I think I last bought a stamp around three years ago. Everything has a positive, unless you are trying to reshape the postal service.
How do you work on a day to day basis?
My day always starts early, around 7.00am at the computer screen. I like to think that if I can sit down and begin addressing the day then I can get a head start on trying to get email out of the way. But now I also have Twitter and LinkedIn to deal with as well. The election to do social media, albeit on a limited scale, went hand in glove with my plan to promote my new website. But this was not a website to promote my practice, but a planned information hub to source useful information from across the web, and put it all in one place for use by fellow industry professionals. Why? - A question I often ask myself. Ultimately it comes down to a simple realisation of a long term goal to do something useful with the wealth of information, knowledge and experience that we middle aged professionals accumulate.
Who do you work closely with?
As a lone operation I end up as the archetypal chief, cook and bottle washer. I tend to interact on all levels with all walks of our industry, although my main contact is with clients whose projects I am almost always at a variety of differing stages with. This is the only way having a variety and number of projects on the go all at once works. If they all ran concurrently, they would all need to be submitted for planning at the same time, which would make my one man existence impossible instead of just mad.
Some jobs have a habit of just dying, after feasibility, or at various stages of planning. Often for a variety of reasons, not always, in fact rarely in my control. After all why would I want a job to die? But acceptance of this is part of professional life's rich tapestry. The greatest loss, after my fee income, is generally to the supply chain that includes product manufacturers and contractors of all persuasions.
What resources do you use regularly?
I utilise ArchiCAD software for building model production from the smallest domestic extension, to office, light industrial and small retail developments. Sharing this information with the wider world has never been easier, quicker or cheaper given the accommodation of common file formats, such as PDF, across all computer platforms, and the magic of the inter-web. I'm afraid to say that I now could not work nearly as well without it. So, apart from my essential software, the world wide web is one of my key tools, and all via the gateway of my most essential Apple iMac computer. When I last had a real job I had a computer and a drawing board, but it got to the stage where the best use of the parallel motion was to stop all the file paper falling off the board, and if I angled the board just right, it would nicely support a mug of tea.
My website has paid more dividends than I could have hoped for initially, as in populating it I get to undergo the most incredible process of CPD. Plus the resources are just what I need too. Of course I don't need to read the blogs, or listen to the podcasts, although I do a podcast every now and then, when I think I am up to listening to my own voice for thirty minutes plus; usually during some exercise, or a car journey. I am always amazed at how straight forward the whole website thing is. If someone had told me three years ago that I would be producing audio podcasts for the construction industry that were being downloaded via iTunes in over a dozen countries, I would have informed them that they needed to see a doctor.
How do you specify products and keep up to date with the latest news?
One of the best, and most useful, features of the website is the product search and notification sections. The current homepage, which of course I visit every day, provides a great 'heads up' on the latest product news, and when I need something more specific, the product search page ticks that box. The whole package is powered by Barbour, who agreed to let me incorporate their system within the web site from day one. I had been a recipient of Barbour's compendiums for decades, so the inclusion of their online system just works for me.
Having identified the manufacturer, product or system that I would prefer to use, or think I would prefer to use, it becomes a case of ensuring that the costs are in line with the client's budget, and then possibly entering into the world of the 'push-me-pull-you' to try and make the jigsaw fit.
And finally, what are your suggestions for the future of specification?
Barbour provides one of the better online product search facilities, and there's enough of them out there. But no search facility can turn up every possibility for us specifiers. But it seems there needs to be more consistency with the search facilities, and/or the information provided by them from the manufacturers. In these days of BIM there is an increasing demand by specifiers for a more intense level of detail about the products, finishes, fixings and who knows what else. This may have been done to death, but probably a leaf out of the good old NBS information provision would act as a good yardstick for the level of information required. If there was a consensus on common ground in this regard that made it a simple copy and paste exercise to populate a specification. Those manufacturers would have a head start. If only they would think along the lines of actually making it easy to specify their products…….. I will leave you with that thought.
Further information
Take a look at Mark’s website, BD Expert, or follow him on Twitter, @BD_Expert. You can also contact Mark here.
Do you specify building products?
If you’re interested in featuring your company in our ‘Focus on’ blog series, or would like more information about Barbour Product Search, please contact Grace Lewis, Interim Editor: grace.lewis@barbourproductsearch.info.
Posted by:
Grace Lewis
Content & Community Manager
Follow @Grace_Barbour on Twitter
Tags: Focus On | Product Specification | Specifier
Focus On Victoria Crawcour: Interior Designer for Desk Centre
30 July 2013, 15:46:47
Our new ‘Focus On’ blog series will explore the roles of different building product specifiers from across the construction industry, looking at how they specify products and the resources they use. For our first article, I spoke to Victoria Crawcour, Interior Designer for Desk Centre.
Desk Centre specialises in the design, planning and fit-out of office spaces as well as having significant expertise of working on educational and commercial projects, providing the full solution from the initial consultation to interior design, furniture sourcing and installation. Desk Centre also supplies a wide range of furniture, which can be viewed and bought from the company’s online shop.
How do you work on a day to day basis?
The design and consultation process begins with either one of our Sales Account Managers or a member of our design team visiting the client to discuss the project requirements, and to take a brief. A survey is then completed and a space plan created, allowing our design team to accurately plan according to the dimensions of the project area, taking into account any potential issues.
I start the design work with a 2D plan, and then will create a 3D model after a second meeting with the client if this is required, where specific details such as fabrics, colours and finishes will be discussed and chosen. Personally, I’m not a massive fan of mood boards. Instead, I prefer to take a selection of fabrics to the client and see how they work within the actual space they will be used layering the fabrics and finishes up so the client can see them next to each other as they would be in reality.
Who do you work closely with?
We work extremely closely with the client throughout the whole process, as well as with the contractors and sub-contractors. I have personally been directing my efforts towards creating successful joint ventures with fit-out companies, this limits the risk of the client paying over the odds for workmanship as I only use contractors I trust, resulting in all parties involved being happy with the outcome on a cost and quality basis. In our experience, while the architect chooses products to add to their designs, it is more likely to be the main contractor who makes the final decision on the specification of products.
What type of projects do you work on?
The types of projects we work on not only vary day to day, but also the time of year. At the moment we are very busy with educational projects as schools, colleges and universities push forward to complete their building work in time for the start of the new school year in September. Consultations for educational projects tend to start around May, so quotes can be prepared in time for the budgets being finalised.
As well as educational projects, we also work on commercial projects, and offer a complete project management solution, covering the whole package; design, specification and construction. In our experience, the client prefers to deal with one project team, and to receive one invoice for the work completed.
How do you specify products?
When specifying products, word of mouth and recommendations are important. Also, if we have previously worked with a manufacturer and know their product is suitable and works well, we will use them again. However, we also like to keep an eye out for new suppliers and innovative products – which is where Barbour Product Search comes in as a useful resource for this purpose!
It was my manager that first introduced me to Barbour Product Search, after having the Barbour Compendium. Since then I use the site regularly to keep up to date with new products and to find new suppliers. I also really enjoy reading the blog articles, which cover a wide range of topics.
And finally, what’s next for Desk Centre?
We are currently in the process of expanding our design project management service by forming joint venture partnerships, which is very exciting! We are also about to release a new design e-book, showcasing our interior design and project management services.
Further information
Desk Centre: For more information about Desk Centre, contact Victoria Crawcour,
victoriac@deskcentre.co.uk. You can also follow Victoria on Twitter, @Vic_Crawcour.
Barbour Product Search: If you would like to be kept up to date with new product launches and case studies, sign up to the Barbour Product Search weekly e-newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
Do you specify building products?
If you’re interested in showcasing your company in our ‘Focus on’ blog series, please contact Grace Lewis, Interim Editor for Barbour Product Search & the Product Search Portfolio, grace.lewis@barbourproductsearch.info.
Posted by:
Grace Lewis
Content & Community Manager
Follow @Grace_Barbour on Twitter
Tags: Focus On | Interior Design | Product Specification | Specifier
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