Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-x5cpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-31T10:27:59.454Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

BARRIERS LEADING TO BUILDING SERVICES OVERDESIGN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Darren Anthony Jones*
Affiliation:
The Open University
Claudia Margot Eckert
Affiliation:
The Open University
*
Jones, Darren, The Open University, United Kingdom, darren.a.jones@open.ac.uk

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The research of this paper provides a useful insight into the many barriers leading to building services overdesign, within the context of NHS hospitals. The issue of overdesign in building services is a systemic problem, whereby numerous contributing factors manifest into an issue that inevitably leads to poor system performance and excess costs. A key factor leading to oversizing is the excessive and uncoordinated application of design margins across the various stages of a building services project. Poor communication between project stakeholders is another significant barrier that inhibits the distribution of information between design groups; unknown requirements, system redundancy and poor system specifications further add to the problem. There are many complex interrelationships associated with the building service design process in hospitals, with external stakeholders adding to the complexity. This points to the importance of effective communication between stakeholders and clear contractual terms between NHS Trusts and external private sector organisations. Many of the barriers identified within this paper are by no means limited to building service systems but also impact on a range of other engineering disciplines.

Type
Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

Abhang, S. (2020) Over-Engineering: What are the Negative Effects? Nearby Engineers. Available on at: https://www.ny-engineers.com/blog/negative-effects-of-over-engineering (Accessed on 4/04/2020).Google Scholar
Chartered Institute of Building Service Engineers (1998) Engineering design calculations and the use of margins. Extracts from research report 4.Google Scholar
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (2012) Guide F – Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Third edition May 2012; The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers. ISBN 978-1-906846-22-0Google Scholar
Chan, A.T.S., Chan, E.H.W. and Scott, D. (2007) Evaluation of Hall's Professional Scale for Professionals in the Construction Industry, Psychological Reports, Vol.100, 12011217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chan, E.H.W., Suen, H. and Chan, S.L. (2005) An Integrated Extranet System: e-AEC for Architects, Engineers and Contractors in Hong Kong and China, Journal of Construction Research, 6 (2), 253271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C. and Crilly, N. (2014) “Modularity, Redundancy and Degeneracy: Cross-Domain Perspectives on Key Design Principles.” In Systems Conference (SysCon), 2014 8th Annual IEEE, 546553CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christel, M.G. and Kang, K.C. (1992) Issues in Requirements Elicitation. Requirements Engineering Project. Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 15213.Google Scholar
Construction Industry Board, G.B. (CIB) (1997) Briefing the Team, Thomas Telford Publishing, London.Google Scholar
de Neufville, R., de Weck, O., Frey, D., Hastings, D., Larson, R., Simchi-Levi, D., Oye, K., Weigal, A., Welsch, R. (2004) Uncertainty Management for Engineering Systems Planning and Design, MIT Publication.Google Scholar
Dieter, G.E. (1989), “Mechanical metallurgy”, SI Metric Edition. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Djunaedy, E., Van den Wymelenberg, K., Acker, B. and Thimmana, H. (2011) Oversizing of HVAC system: signatures and penalties, Energy and Buildings 43 (2-3) (2011): 468475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckert, C., Earl, C., Lebjioui, S. and Isaksson, O. (2013). Components margins through the product lifecycle. In: Product Lifecycle Management for Society, 5-7 July, 2013, Nantes, Springer, pp. 3947.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckert, C. and Isaksson, O. (2017) Safety Margins and Design Margins: A Differentiation between Interconnected Concepts. Procedia CIRP, Vol. 60, p. 267272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geens, A., Snelson, D., Al-Madfai, H. and Hillier, D. (2011) Impacts of Ventilation: Studies on “Before and After” a Smoking Ban is Implemented, Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 19:4, 335342, https://dx.doi.org/10.3846/16486897.2011.634058CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grondzik, Walter T. (2007) Air-Conditioning System Design Manual (2nd Edition). American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE).Google Scholar
Gupta, P., Ananda, S. and Gupta, H. (2017) Developing a roadmap to overcome barriers to energy efficiency in buildings using best worst method. Sustainable Cities and Society 31 (2017) 244259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, E., Jackson, K. and Dick, J. (2005) Requirements Engineering, 2nd Ed. Springer. ISBN 1-85233-879-2Google Scholar
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (1990) Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology. IEEE Standard 610.12-1990 (revision and redesignation of IEEE Std. 729-1983), NY. 1983.Google Scholar
Jones, D.A. and Eckert, C.M. (2019) Empowering Decision Makers to Avoid the Oversizing of Building Service Systems. Presented at Proceedings of the 22nd (ICED19), Delft, The Netherlands, 5-8 August 2019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D.A. and Eckert, C.M. (2020) Managing Margins: Overdesign in Hospital Building Services. Presented online at proceedings of the DESIGN 2020, the 16th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. A. (2022). Strategic Energy Management within Hospitals: Barriers to Energy Efficiency and the Impact of Design Margins. PhD thesis The Open University.Google Scholar
Koshy, E., Koshy, V. and Waterman, H. (2010) Action Research in Healthcare. London: SAGE Publications, Limited. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446288696 ISBN: 1848601883Google Scholar
Oehmen, J. and Kwakkel, J., 2021. Risk, uncertainty, and ignorance in engineering systems design. In Handbook of engineering systems design (pp. 131). Cham: Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar
Pérez-Lombard, L., Ortiz, J., and Pout, C., (2008) A review on buildings energy consumption information Energy and Buildings 40, 394398. Elsevier B.V. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2007.03.007Google Scholar
Ronen, B. and Pass, S. (2008) Focused operations management: achieving more with existing resources. 1st edition - published by Hoboken, N. J.: Wiley. ISBN: 1-281-23719-1. ISBN: 9786611237196.Google Scholar
Schleich, J and Gruber, E (2008) Beyond Case Studies: Barriers to Energy Efficiency in Commerce and the Services Sector, Energy Economics 30 (2): 449–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaikh, P.H., Mohd. Nor, N.B., Nallagownden, P., Elamvazuthi, I. and Ibrahim, T. (2013) Robust stochastic control model for energy and comfort management of buildings. Australian J. Sci. 2013;7(10):.Google Scholar
Weick, K.E., Sutcliffe, K.M. and Obstfeld, D. (1999) “Organizing for high reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness”. Research in Organizational Behaviour, Vol. 21, pp. 81123.Google Scholar
Yu, A.T.W. and Chan, E.H.W. (2010) Requirements management in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry: the way forward. CIB World Congress. CIB Congress 2010.Google Scholar
Zhao, H. X., & Magoulès, F. (2012). A review on the prediction of building energy consumption. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(6), 35863592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zielczynski, P. (2008) Requirements Management Using IBM Rational Requisite Pro, IBM Press, Pearson plc, Upper Saddle River, N.J.Google Scholar