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ne of the biggest and longest architectural projects in the world, Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, is scheduled to be completed in in 2026 to coincide with the centennial of the eccentric architect’s death. But how closely will the final structure resemble Gaudi’s original plans for his gothic masterpiece?


Terry Sharp, president of the Building Controls Industry Associaon, discusses the dicules experienced with regard to idenfying relevant drawings when preparing tenders, and oers a possible soluon


Gaudi took over the design work in 1883 after the resignation of the original architect, and although work continued after his death, many of Gaudi’s original plans and models were either damaged or destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Since then, teams of architects have endeavoured to carry out the unenviable task of finishing the job using reconstructed versions of Gaudí's plans and modern adaptations. However, the final result is likely to be a long way off Gaudi’s original vision, and criticism has come from various groups who have accused those with the responsibility of completing the famous temple of betraying Gaudi’s ideas and building it in their own image. This perhaps represents one of the oldest examples of a building’s final design straying far from the original idea, and there was always a high risk in the days when we were over- reliant on original paper documents. But we are now working in a digital age, in which we have a multitude of online tools at our disposal in order to construct buildings in exactly the form they were designed. Surely all complications, discrepancies and misunderstandings are therefore a thing of the past? Unfortunately, not yet.


Drawing a blank


INDUSTRY COMMENT: BCIA


Get the picture? O


With the introduction of electronic drawing portals and online repositories it has become easy to ‘share’ files. BMS companies are frequently sent enquiries typically with `Dropbox` type emails, which contain literally hundreds of ‘zipped’ site drawings and no meaningful specification. The vast majority of these drawings have no significant content for the BMS companies, they are merely sent ‘just in case’ there is something on the drawings for them to include for. Tender (and subsequent contract) documents put the onus on the controls company to have read and understood all the documentation to ensure they have made allowances for all requirements. But to bid for a contract, the controls company must trawl their way through dozens of irrelevant documents (plumbing, brickwork, roof, tiling, drains, etc) just in case some reference to controls or BMS is made. Most tender packs do not summarise the controls requirements but disperse them among the heating, ventilation and air- conditioning (HVAC) under control. There is no obvious numbering system to drawings and while they might include mechanical and electrical drawings, specific BMS/controls drawings are rarely included. At best there is a generic spec - much of which is repetitive and not relevant to that specific contract. Assumptions then have to be made, the requirements are uncertain and this subsequently raises questions for the consulting engineer, who very often does not know the answers. This can result in a small contract varying


in cost, say from £25k to £45k with options. This is bad news for the client!


So, what is the solution? Perhaps by liaising with other organisations a uniform referencing/look-up regime could be adopted for drawings and specifications that allowed indexing to find the relevant bit then the specification could be written properly to clearly detail what is required. Having a more common numbering system as well as having separate drawings for the BMS contractors would save a lot of time – and therefore costs – on projects. We already have drawings for the mechanical and electricals - why not have a third for BMS/controls and the dreaded metering?


It is no wonder that ‘design and build’ becomes ‘design as we build’ and the client ends up getting something quite different to what they wanted.


www.bcia.co.uk


6 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER MAY 2020


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