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Short-term horizons

"People still have very short-term horizons. If we say that we can refurbish a building at a cost that can be recouped within a year, then such a proposal is likely to be met with approval. But if you say within ten years ... at the moment, two years is about the point beyond which people stop listening. It is difficult to generalize though, as different clients have differing levels of sophistication, and differing attitudes to long-term planning. I think this situation will change" Willis adds that refurbishment poses a particular challenge for the MEP sector, as well as representing an untapped market."

Traditional design practices pose a specific problem for MEP consultants, he says. "Traditionally, an architect will talk to a client about what they want; the architect generates the vision and then talks to a structural engineer about how it can be made to work structurally; and then sometime down the line, after a fair number of drawings and a lot of development, they end up with the MEP engineers. Normally it is assumed that the plant is going to be on the roof or in the basement. So plant space and risers is often already determined on the basis of an assumption based on percentage of GFA - but, actually, depending on the use of the building, your systems and what should be done to maximize efficiency, it will change from building to building. I have worked on buildings where the prevalence of natural ventilation brought the plant-space requirement down to 5%, while on other really complex buildings it is as high as 15%."

Restrictions already in place

Unfortunately a building arrives at the MEP engineer with a lot of restrictions already in place, such as height and space-planning restrictions. Quite often a client will have said, can we get an extra floor into this building while still keeping within the planned height?

Thus the floor-to-ceiling, or slab-to-slab dimension, has been reduced. The place where this is normally most affected is up in the ceiling space where the services are.

So when you come to refurbishing a building designed in this manner, your biggest problem is managing the services distribution and fitting the stuff in, especially right at the tail end of the design process. An ideal situation is where you have enough space in the false ceiling, and a raised floor for some functions, coupled with good riser space.

This is as much a maintenance issue as fitting it in, in the first instance. So an existing building with no raised floor, hardly any ceiling space and restricted risers, heavily restricts options on what can be done .

"One of the drivers of inefficiency is a lack of flexibility, and especially a lack of control and response flexibility. Quite often, if your distribution spaces are restricted, you cannot put in those systems that will respond the most effectively. I have been to a number of buildings which have been designed with, say, one large chiller or space for one large chiller. Apart from maintenance issues of being able to maintain one machine whilst the other is operating, that is not the most efficient way to deal with the load - you need to have a good turn down to deal with part loads efficiently and this is normally achieved with more than one chiller so they can ramp up and down, and you can switch them on and off as needed. This could then mean that the plant space becomes problematic as well. There are solutions to all of these issues, and you can work your way around them, but it just incurs additional costs. That is what I see as the major problems confronting MEP in terms of the refurbishment sector," says Willis.

Changing face

Another challenge facing the sector, which Willis deals with in his work with the EGBC, is the changing face of Building Assessment Methods such as LEED and BREEAM, both of which have been going through a process of change to be more applicable to the UAE.

The EGBC has had ongoing input into LEED 2009, the latest version of the USGBC green building code.

"We initiated a series of discussions that resulted in certain modifications being incorporated into LEED 2009. The USGBC has also instigated changes to make the system more regional, which was a necessary change, as it was a "one fits all" and even in the USA there is a dramatic difference within country from Alaska to California.

The regional focus also allows the EGBC to investigate alternative compliance paths to realize desired outcomes or targets, to create four "regional credits" specific to the UAE and have a process whereby we can influence the new weighting system accordingly.

An example of compliance path change is illustrated in the credit for surface-water drainage. You could see from the way the text was written, and even the pictures used, that the prevailing mindset was green fields and abundant streams. While the fundamental intent of these credits is correct, the approach is wrong for our region. But now that we are able to change that approach it means that we can address these issues in a local manner," says Willis.

Construction materials

"But for me I think the most significant issue is construction materials. Everybody talks about energy and water, but we all know how to deal with that. In terms of the LEED process, sustainable indigenous construction materials only accrue credits if manufactured or sourced within 600 miles of your site. Sourcing appropriate materials here is problematic. The USGBC was nevertheless pretty flexible, and said all you do is tell us what you think is a sensible radius for use in the UAE. However, materials databases present a bit of a problem globally, as you really have to understand the materials, the supply chain and what the embodied carbon is."

Willis says that this also involves a verification process. "Someone can tell you where to obtain a specific material, but how can the information be verified at the end of the day? This requires in-depth research, and there are a lot of consultants and developers who really do not have the time or the willingness to do that."

"We are a long way behind in trying to catch up, especially in terms of new materials and recycling old ones."

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