26 questions, answered properly

We are a mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) building-services consultancy. We design the systems that make a building work — air conditioning and ventilation, water and drainage, fire protection, electrical and ICT, specialist systems such as medical gas and swimming pools — and we supervise their installation, testing and commissioning. We are the engineers between the architect's drawing and a building that actually functions.

Both, depending on the appointment. We take projects as a design consultancy (drawings, calculations, specifications, tender documents), as installation supervisors on behalf of a client, or as a combined design-and-supervision appointment which is how most of our work runs. Where installation is in our scope we manage the specialist subcontractors and hold them to the drawings and standards we issued.

As early as the architect has a workable floor plan. The cheapest MEP decisions are made before the structure is fixed — riser positions, plant room sizes, ceiling void depths, slab penetrations. Bringing an MEP engineer in after the structural drawings are frozen means designing around problems instead of preventing them, and that costs money on every subsequent package.

An architectural plan (any format — PDF, DWG or even a measured sketch), a brief describing how the building will be used and by how many people, and the site location. From that we can produce a scope, a fee and a drawing list. A site visit and a survey of the existing services follow for refurbishment work.

Yes. We work across Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Seychelles. Regional work is run from Nairobi with scheduled site visits at agreed hold points — design reviews, first fix, plant delivery, testing and commissioning — rather than a permanent on-site presence, which keeps fees proportionate to the project.

Yes, and it is more common than you would think. We start with a technical audit: what has been designed, what has been built, what has been assumed and what can be verified. You get an honest report of what is sound, what needs redesign and what has to be opened up and checked, before we take design responsibility for anything.

British and European standards for public health and fire (BS EN 806 for water, BS EN 12056 and BS EN 752 for drainage, BS EN 671 and BS 9990 for fire), CIBSE and ASHRAE guidance for HVAC, IEC 60364 as referenced through BS 7671 for electrical, and HTM 02-01 with ISO 7396-1 for medical gas. Local regulation — NCA, NEMA, EPRA, county fire and water authorities — sits on top of that, not instead of it. The full list is on our Standards & Codes page.

Yes. Systems are modelled in Autodesk Revit and clash-detected in Navisworks, with the model developed to LOD 350 by construction issue. Where the thermal performance of a space matters we validate it with CFD simulation before anything is bought. BIM is not a marketing line for us — it is how the ceiling void gets zoned so that six services fit where the architect allowed for four.

It is running every discipline's model against every other to find where a duct passes through a beam, a pipe through a light fitting, or a cable tray through a doorway. Each of those clashes found on site becomes a variation, a delay and an argument. Found in the model, it is a five-minute change. On a recent coordination package we cleared 412 clashes before a single bracket was fixed.

Calculation, and the calculation is issued with the drawing. Water pipework is sized by the loading-unit method to BS EN 806 with velocity capped at 2.0 m/s. Drainage runs are set out by fall and invert level. Hose-reel coverage is proven geometrically until every point of a floor is reachable. Cable sizes are verified for volt drop and fault level. If a number on our drawing cannot be traced to a calculation, it should not be on the drawing.

No, and deliberately so. Client drawings are confidential. Every sheet published on this site is drawn on a neutral reference building, watermarked, and stamped SAMPLE / NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION. They show you the standard of output, the title block, the revision control, the general notes and the level of detail you would receive — without exposing anyone else's scheme.

We do, using Autodesk CFD. It earns its cost where air movement decides whether a space works — a data or server room, a plant room with high heat rejection, a large atrium or hall, a kitchen or laundry, or a naturally ventilated space where a client is being asked to trust an assumption. For a standard office floor, established design guidance is sufficient and simulation adds cost without adding certainty.

Design work is usually a fixed fee against a defined drawing list and scope, so you know the number before we start. Supervision is charged either as a percentage of the installed MEP value or as an agreed monthly retainer for the construction period. Audits, second opinions and feasibility work are charged as a lump sum. We do not quote a rate before understanding the scope — an honest fee needs an honest brief.

It varies enormously with building type, so treat any single figure with suspicion. A simple residential block sits at the low end; a hospital, a hotel with a laundry and pools, or a data-heavy commercial building sits far higher because the services are the building. The right way to know is a services cost plan early in design, which we can prepare — not a percentage borrowed from someone else's project.

For a typical mid-sized commercial or residential development, allow four to eight weeks from a frozen architectural layout to a coordinated construction issue, run in stages: concept and load assessment, schematic design and plant sizing, coordinated detailed design, then tender and construction issue. The single biggest cause of overrun is architectural change after coordination has started.

Yes, by issuing in packages — the drawings the contractor needs first (below-ground drainage, slab penetrations, riser positions) go out ahead of the rest. What we will not do is issue an uncoordinated drawing to hit a date. A sheet issued early and wrong costs more than a sheet issued late and right.

The fee covers the agreed drawing list, calculations, specifications, schedules, coordination and the review meetings needed to get there. Additional work — redesign after a change of brief, extra tender rounds, site attendance beyond the agreed frequency, or a new building added to the scope — is agreed in writing before it is done. There are no surprise invoices.

As-built drawings reflecting what was installed, not what was designed; the calculations behind the sizing; equipment schedules with make, model and duty; test and commissioning records for each system; manufacturer manuals and warranties; an operation and maintenance manual; and where BIM is in scope, the as-built model. It should be possible for a facilities team who never met us to run the building from that set.

Pressure and leakage testing on all pipework, air testing on below-ground drainage before backfill, ductwork leakage testing to DW/143, electrical inspection and testing with certificates, flow and pressure testing of the fire installation, commissioning and proportional balancing of air and water systems, and for medical gas, purity, cross-connection and particulate testing followed by independent verification. Nothing is signed off on the basis that it appears to work.

Frequency is agreed in the appointment and matched to the programme — typically weekly during first fix and installation, and continuous attendance at hold points such as pressure tests, air tests before backfill, plant delivery and commissioning. Every visit produces a written site report with photographs and a list of items to close out.

It gets recorded, and it gets resolved before it is covered up. Deviations fall into two groups: those with a legitimate reason, which we assess and either approve with a revised drawing or reject, and those without, which are corrected. A system that has drifted from the design is a system nobody can maintain from the as-builts.

Yes. We provide planned maintenance schedules, periodic inspection and condition reporting, energy and performance reviews, and support during the defects liability period. Most building-services failures in the region are maintenance failures, not design failures — a system that is never serviced will fail regardless of how well it was engineered.

Typically county government approval of the building plans including services; a fire safety approval from the county fire authority for the fire installation; NEMA licensing where there is an on-site sewage treatment plant or a discharge to the environment; EPRA involvement for solar PV, net metering and fuel installations; a water and sewer connection consent from the local utility; and NCA registration of the contractors carrying out the work. Requirements vary by county and by building type — we confirm them at the start, not at the end.

The practice is led by a registered Professional Engineer who is also a certified Project Management Professional, with over eighteen years in building services. Registration and insurance certificates are issued with our pre-qualification pack on request — please ask through the contact form and we will send the current documents.

Yes. We prepare MEP specifications, bills of quantities, drawing schedules and tender documents, run the technical evaluation of returned bids, and advise on which tender is genuinely the best value rather than simply the lowest. An underpriced MEP tender is usually a variation claim waiting to happen.

Client drawings, models and data are not published, shared or reused. That is why every drawing on this website is a neutral sample rather than a project sheet, and why our project pages describe scope rather than naming private clients. We will sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving anything sensitive.