BSEE-NOV21-PG34.qxp_Layout 1 25/10/2021 11:23 Page 34
BSEE
The future carbon economy will present major challenges and opportunities for M&E companies over the next 10 years with the need to deliver innovative design solutions for new and existing buildings, according to Julian McCamphill, operations director of Dowds Group.
energy saving performance across product ranges, the onus will be more and more on M&E contractors and designers to be more proactive in terms of reducing carbon footprints to meet Government targets. As these targets alter and become more complex, this in turn will mean the need for new initiatives to provide even greater investment to attract highly trained staff to join the industry, especially graduates who will need to see construction as a more attractive career option.
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For companies such as Dowds Group, the challenge already exists to deliver increasingly complex projects involving BIM, new technologies and much more. These are already being incorporated into all new contracts – a typical example is the planned major refurbishment of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in south London operated by the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. The project is worth around £30 million. More than half of that total will be spent on delivering the M&E. Work has already started for Dowds to accurately design and agree cost on every aspect of the project prior
here is already
considerable pressure for change, but while most building manufacturers and suppliers are looking at delivering better
FOCUS: MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE Future opportunities and challenges for M&E companies
to contractors going into the hospital at beginning of 2022, with the contract expected to be finished the following year.
“Attention to detail, health and safety matched by an emphasis on delivering quality at all times is important for every type of contract,” said Julian Julian McCamphill, “and this particularly applies to work in hospitals and in our opinion will increasingly become more challenging.”
“That attention to detail relates to everything we do – right down to knowing that when an operative flicks a switch, everyone is totally aware of what is on the end of that and every other circuit. It could be a patient on life support, power to a critical operating theatre – it is that important.”
“Equally, we have to be aware that we are not only designing and installing infrastructure that meets today’s needs, it also has to be fit for purpose for the next 20 years or more and be capable of delivering Government carbon targets and changing patient needs.” Dowds, working from their head office in Belfast for more than 40 years, strives to deliver quality healthcare projects in Northern Ireland. This expertise has been transferred to London where the company is now one of the fastest growing of its kind across the capital and the rest of the UK. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital which was built in the 1950s and later modernised in the 1990s under a PFI agreement is in urgent need of refurbishment and modernisation to
bring the building up to modern standards.
Dowds, which will be working closely with the NHS Trust to ensure minimum disruption to staff and patients throughout the
refurbishment, will be responsible for upgrading all of the electrical infrastructure. They will further upgrade the facilities for medical gas supplies such as oxygen, the climate control and all the other M&E areas across the site. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is the latest in a growing number of healthcare success stories for Dowds, which include just about every major hospital in Northern Ireland together with scheme at Addenbrookes, Merseyside, Newcastle, Reading and many other parts of the country. With NHS Trusts probably under more pressure than ever before due to COVID-19 and expanding waiting lists, the focus is now firmly on the M&E sector to deliver 21st Century facilities – that’s the challenge for companies like Dowds.
dowdsgroup.com Widespread worry about IAQ
data on indoor air quality. The survey, which included over 4,000 respondents across a number of highly vaccinated countries, was conducted in the summer of 2021, studying people’s concerns regarding indoor air during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one third of the respondents are concerned about the IAQ in their place of work, and more than half said that concerns with IAQ impacts their motivation to visit public spaces. Around two thirds of respondents also said that these concerns impact their motivation to travel.
A
survey commissioned by measurement technology company Vaisala has found that people would feel safer with more
“Vaccination rates are high in the surveyed countries, but the survey revealed high levels of concern with air quality in indoor spaces. We believe this is because, intuitively, people understand that infection risk is higher in indoor spaces where people are in close proximity with each other, and where ventilation is insufficient,” says Anu Kätkä from Vaisala’s product management.
“When people spend too long in a poorly ventilated space, their exhaled breath causes carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to rise. Higher levels of CO2 impact people’s wellbeing, health and performance, but importantly, monitoring CO2 levels can highlight when the risk of COVID-19 transmission is high and better ventilation is required. By monitoring CO2 levels in indoor
34 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER NOVEMBER 2021
spaces, organisations can provide the reassurance the respondents need.” “In recent years, many countries have implemented regulations concerning the monitoring of indoor air quality parameters such as CO2. These regulations are designed to ensure optimal air quality, but in order to achieve this goal, accurate and science-based data is essential,” explains Kätkä.
Reliable measurement instruments perform a key role in decision making to prevent the spread of diseases and protect people’s health. The prerequisite for healthy indoor air is efficient ventilation and air conditioning that prevents diseases from spreading, keeps the mind clear, and ensures a healthy environment.
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