Building Services Engineering makes buildings meet the needs of the people who live and work in them.
Buildings do more than provide shelter from the heat and cold, or from sun, wind and rain; they must also provide a safe and healthy environment in which people can live, work and achieve.
Building Services Engineers are the people who make this happen. They creatively apply scientific principles to design the buildings we need, and focus on aspects of buildings such as:
Safety:
- Daylight and artificial lighting
- Escalators and lifts
- Ventilation and refrigeration
- Security and alarm systems
- Fire detection and protection
Efficiency
- Reducing carbon emissions and environmental impact
- Energy supply and use
- Communications networks
- Façade engineering
Comfort
- Heating and ventilating
- Water, drainage and plumbing
- Air conditioning and refrigeration
Building Services Engineers Bring Buildings to Life
Imagine yourself in the most fabulous building in the world. Now take away the lighting, heating and ventilation, the lifts and escalators, acoustics, plumbing, power supply and energy management systems, the security and safety systems. You are left in a cold, dark uninhabitable shell. Building Services Engineers really do “bring buildings to life”.
Imagine the air filtration systems you'd need in a clean computer manufacturing facility. The heating controls in a special care baby unit? The airflow systems needed to control bacteria and humidity in an operating theatre? What about security systems at an airport or in the Headquarters of MI5? Lighting the Olympic Stadium? Coping with a power cut in the dealing room of a City banker? This is everyday work for a building services engineer.
At any sports event, think about what the spectators and athletes are experiencing. People movement, communications for scoreboards, security and safety. All these systems are designed, installed and maintained by Building Services Engineers.
On a smaller scale, look around you at home. Your central heating, plumbing and power systems were all designed to work well. New homes with much more efficient systems using groundbreaking technologies are being created all the time.
Building Services Engineers are helping to create a low carbon future for us all.