Page 10 - CSA INDEX - Spring Summer 2021

It's Not M & E

Picture this scene.

Below my feet is a raised access floor system and above my head is
a suspended ceiling void. As I turn 360 degrees, I see a curtain wall
system and the plasterboard walls of the building's central core area.
A variety of different trades are working on this level of the building.

A heavily-set man in his fifties wanders over to me. He is the site
engineer for the principal contractor and he says to me:

"Glenn, why don't people take M & E seriously?" For the building where my conversation with the site engineer
took place, these systems represent 37% of the construction
I respond: cost. More importantly, if these systems do not function correctly
– individually and collectively – the building will not meet the
"You have just provided the answer to your own question." needs of the people that will use, manage, operate and maintain
it; it will just be a dark, dead, useless carcass.

Imagine that you have two glass pots.

In one pot, you place all the money that will be required to deliver
these systems on this project.

He replies:
In the other pot, you place all the money required to deliver
"What do you mean?" the structural frame & upper floors, the roof, the external walls,
windows & doors, the internal walls, partitions & doors and the
Let me try to explain what I mean. floor finishes.

M & E stands for Mechanical and Electrical and it is a commonly- Both glass pots would contain the same amount of money.
used term in the vocabulary of the built environment. It is a catch-
all abbreviation intended to represent the incredibly diverse In this building, there are over 60 different types of these system
range of engineering systems that bring buildings to life. that need to be designed, specified, costed, programmed,
procured, installed, commissioned, handed over, operated,
These systems include air conditioning, lighting, heating, data, maintained and eventually brought out of service. Many types
water, fire detection, drainage, sprinklers, access control, medical of system occur multiple times within the building because they
gas, small power, refuse disposal, closed circuit television, sanitary serve different spaces, zones or floors.
appliances, steam, dry risers, lifts, smoke extraction, compressed
air, public address, local ventilation, commercial kitchens & The building contains hundreds of system-specific assets, such as
laundries, building management systems, cold rooms, lightning chillers, electrical panels, boilers, air handling units, generators,
protection, intruder alarms, stairwell pressurisation, cinema extract fans, UPS units, calorifiers, fan coil units, pumps, sinks,
systems, fuel distribution, escalators, electronic visual displays, chimneys, recording devices, photovoltaic arrays, water storage
water features... tanks, and control panels.