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At Cpdt Consulting we offer quality professional building services design and assessment specialising in mechanical, hydraulic and pool water services.
The first fundamental step in any task is making sure we are doing what is required. In the case of your project that is a matter of bringing together a number of important threads. First we need to take time to clearly understand your needs and goals. Then, if applicable, we need to apply the current building code requirements to ensure a smooth passage through the building consent process. We then go beyond Building Code and apply best practice, which will provide you with an outcome that optimises performance, reducing your costs and improving your bottom lines.
We will take time to understand what is important to you and then establish a clear brief that suits your needs. We will communicate our design options, decisions and progress with you as the project advances.
We believe that the building industry is a team sport. We believe it is critically important to develop strong working relationships with everyone in the team based on mutual respect and impartiality. After all everyone in this business is someone’s supplier and everyone is someone’s customer. Each member has special skills and perspective to bring to the team. When we are called to make judgements in a project we will be fair and honest.
We will provide detailed design collaboration with the rest of the team through sharing three dimensional CAD models. This enables production of much more detailed documentation than the traditional line drawings and minimises the risk of costly delays and rework on site. Alternatively if simpler documentation is all that is required we can tailor our approach to suit the needs of the project.
What is quality? All major engineering consultancies trumpet their quality systems. They go to great effort to maintain their ISO quality accreditation through intensive quality assurance procedures and reviews. It is all about consistency in filling out the right forms, filing things in the right places, ensuring consistent document standards and the like. But what does all of that actually mean? Although ensuring consistency in these matters is undoubtably important, it has no bearing on the quality of the actual engineering. It is entirely possible to perfectly adhere to all of the quality procedures, but still produce work that is technically deficient or even unsound.
High quality means getting the technical things right. It also means making sure of coordination as appropriate across the whole design team. High quality documentation reduces uncertainty, rework, errors, wasted time and costs. It also improves system performance and efficiency. We pride ourselves on clear and concise documentation and specification.
High quality in design includes a balance of focusing on details as well as the big picture. For example it has always been common for valves and fittings in a hot water system to remain uninsulated. This may make for nice looking plantroom photos, but it is poor practice. The hot surfaces are not only a safety issue, but they also waste a lot of unnecessary energy. As well as ensuring the details are optimised we keep your goals in mind to ensure the main targets stay in focus.
We also implement a continuous improvement process to our designs and systems. At any stage of a project we actively review what we do, including any lessons learnt and note any potential improvements that can help us be even better in the future. On top of this we maintain a programme of planned continuous improvement.
At Cpdt we understand how critical accuracy is. It is true that flows and temperatures can only be measured to a certain accuracy and that there are typically discrete steps in sizing within a range of units. However many engineers take these facts as an excuse to be sloppy with their calculations. In doing so it is very easy to make critical errors or fail to allow for important factors. Sure, there will always be uncertainties, but we are careful to minimise the calculation errors that many engineers are happy to accept. These errors often may be small, but they compound and it doesn’t take much to push a design right off track.
A common example is failing to allow for heat loss in pipework systems. These losses can be substantial enough to cause a system to under-perform significantly, especially if all parts are not properly insulated. A radiator system, with long runs of small diameter pipework, is a prime candidate for this sort of problem.
We are always looking for ways to improve energy efficiency. The earlier we can be involved in a new-build project the more input we can have into a building’s form and envelope and therefore have the opportunity to tap into the greatest potential savings. We look for holistic design opportunities, where dramatic improvements can be made through cross-discipline collaboration. Details are very important. Even small areas of thermal bridging, such as one exposed beam, can lose over five times as much heat as a similar properly insulated area, so even small failures in the insulation system can have a dramatic effect.
We are also continually studying world-wide best practice through CIBSE and ASHRAE, and feeding that back into our continuous improvement process. CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) and ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) are the two world premier professional engineering organisations in the building services fields with over 70,000 members worldwide. Each has a vast knowledge which is made available to its members. We hold membership of both organisations.
The building services industry is fast moving. Technological innovations, new products, strategies, techniques and research are constantly offering new opportunities. We constantly look for information that we think could be of value to our clients. Changes to regulations can also come locally or from international sources and the effects can be far reaching. We keep up to date with these changes and therefore are in a good position to advise you on how they might impact your business.
A prime example is the changes over the years to refrigerants. From the Montreal Protocol in 1987 international agreements have phased out certain groups of refrigerants due to their ozone depletion or global warming potential. R22 used to be a very common refrigerant but has been phased out over the years and there are now severe limitations over how equipment using this refrigerant can be serviced. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, signed in 2016, now agrees to phase out the current commonly used refrigerants because of their global warming potential.
We will work closely with you to ascertain your needs. We offer a broad range of services, melding with specialists in other fields.
We have extensive experience providing a range of services to a very broad range of market sectors.