Facilitating growth in MEP

Keith Hill
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The economic downturn has resulted in civil contractors and real-estate developers entering the MEP services sector, while MEP service providers are increasingly looking at FM to sustain them through the lean times. We take a closer look at some of the latest developments in the FM industry and what this bodes for MEP.

Frost & Sullivan senior analyst Vivek Vijayakumar stated in a recent research report that “MEP service providers are trying to get into the FM service business as a value-added resource (aftersales service), mainly to streamline their profit levels and to maintain their sustainability levels in order to offer a comprehensive, one-stop service solution, and to balance the risk involved in both businesses.”

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Mike McGeever, the MD of Transguard, which recently acquired MEP contractor MACAir, says there is a natural dichotomy between contracting and maintenance that the MEP industry, in particular, can take advantage of. “MEP maintenance and FM are two sides of the same coin: I think MEP maintenance is a sub-set of FM. I do not think you can be an FM company if you are not able to provide the full package. What we are doing is making ourselves a supplier of choice to enable customers really to sit down and negotiate with us for all sorts of activities.

“Many MEP companies have aspired, and some have managed to become, FM companies, particularly in Europe. Similarly, single trick ponies – catering and cleaning companies – have also moved up the value chain to FM. I think MEP is just another example,” says McGeever. He is careful to add that this does not mean a compromise on quality. “I do not think we are in a business of compromising on quality. I do not think you can, particularly with MEP, as health and safety issues are wrapped around it. Very often, particularly with MEP, security issues are also wrapped around it, so I do not think we can cut corners. Short-termism is inimical to long-term quality in both the FM and MEP sectors.” Atkins design director: building services Keith Hill comments that one way that MEP and FM can exploit the natural synergies between the two sectors is to look at implementing a management scheme similar to the Soft Landings programme of the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) and the Usable Buildings Trust (UBT) of the UK.

Soft Landings aims to provide the necessary structure for project teams to stay engaged after practical completion of a project, working with the client during the first months of operation to fine-tune and debug systems, and ensure the occupiers understand how to control and optimally utilise their new work environment.

Interestingly, the Soft Landings process is designed to extend up to three years post-completion, with a framework that includes procedures and example checklists which act as signposts for design teams to help end-users get to grips with their often unfamiliar and complex buildings. In addition, it allows for a full programme of post-occupancy evaluation that the project team can use to improve a building’s performance and make it sustainable over the long term.

EVALUATION

“Systematic post-occupancy evaluation is widely recognised to be a hugely important step in the right direction, but it needs to be linked to a rational methodology for assessing the briefing, design and commissioning stages. This is where Soft Landings comes into its own, closing the loop between design, construction, operation, feedback and into design again. As the name suggests, Soft Landings aims to provide better buildings and a more effective service to the client,” explains Rab Bennetts, architect and principal of Bennetts Associates.

“For too long we have assumed that new buildings will perform exactly as their design teams intend, from day one of occupation. However, we know that few new buildings are truly operationally ready at handover, and we also know that energy consumption is often far higher than anticipated. The Soft Landings framework provides a simple mechanism by which project teams can remain involved after practical completion in order to identify emerging problems, resolve causes of energy wastage and help the occupants gain full control over the building’s environmental systems,” comments BSRIA project manager Roderic Bunn.

Another opportunity is presented by the US$4 billion worth of stalled projects in the region, argues Langmead Associates (Bahrain) MD Douglas Langmead. “Halfway through building, it stops, the money gets sucked out of the system, and the whole thing breaks down. You cannot continue to build, and your building is standing out in the desert. What happens if you leave your car out in the desert if you run out of petrol, and then you wind down your windows and lift the hood, and just leave it there and walk away? The battery dies, the tyres go, people eventually come and steal the engine, and you wind up with a rusting shell in the middle of the desert if you do nothing. What you have to do is something.