"I am a big fan of software as a design tool and I find it quite shocking that the industry does not use it to full advantage," says John Thornton of the University of Northumbria. "I think very often the problem is that, because of time and cost pressures, engineers are looking more at the installation of the systems and are not always looking for more involved solutions," he adds.
For that reason, John Thornton seeks to ensure that his students get a good grounding in the use of software, starting with Hevacomp for basic work in the first year and moving on to Cymap and Facet for the more advanced work in the second and third years.
With the majority of design departments now using software in one form or another it will certainly become more important that new entrants to the industry have some IT skills. Indeed, there's a possibility that the skills they learn in their colleges will be the driving force for design departments to make wider use of the facilities available.
Information management
Design packages are used in very different ways from one organisation to another, with each having its own favourite features. "Although we don't use design software extensively we find it very good for labour intensive tasks such as final circuit calculations – and it is also very good for plotting graphs," explains Chris McLoughlin of the Bank of England. "In general I think software is a very useful tool as long as it is managed properly and controlled – it's important the engineers have an understanding of the basics and don't become too reliant on the software."
The fact that the information is all stored in the software file can also be a bonus. "As well as design we use the software for all of our health and safety record keeping as it does it all for us," notes John Barford of Van den Bergh Foods. "The Cymap software we use is definitely getting better all of the time and the documents it produces are superb," he adds.
Presentation of design concepts by computer modelling is one of the areas that is expected to grow, as it can make it a lot easier to understand the concepts.
Modelling in 3D, in particular, is already finding favour amongst many architects. "Designing in 3D is the natural way for an architect to work and it makes it easier for the clients to understand the concepts," explains architect Robin Haddow.
It would seem to make perfect sense for building services engineers to make more use of 3D as well but this will often depend on the drawings they receive from the architect. As AutoCAD is only just introducing 3D, many AutoCAD drawings from architects are still supplied in 2D, which limits the scope for the building services engineer.
Where 3D is used, it can offer significant benefits, allowing building services engineers and architects to work more effectively together. "We see big advantages for building services design once our architects upgrade to 3D," says Alan Keeling of Bradford City Council. "A lot of our buildings are heavily serviced and the ability to produce elevations of rooms in 3D would make life a lot easier and avoid a lot of problems on site," he continues.
Cymap's parent company Graphisoft is promoting the benefits of a 3D facility in a big way, via its 3D ArchiCAD package with integration to the Cymap building services design software. See the box story, right for a screen by screen explanation on how it might work in a typical project.
Source
Building Sustainable Design