Building services engineering, technical building services, architectural engineering, or building engineering is the engineering of the internal environment and environmental impact of a building. It essentially brings buildings and structures to life.
Building services engineers are responsible for the design, installation, operation and monitoring of the mechanical, electrical and public health systems required for the safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly operation of modern buildings. The term "building services engineering" is widely used in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, but in the United States of America, the field is also known as architectural engineering or building engineering, though these terms can also have other meanings, even in the United States.
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Building services engineering comprises mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and plumbing or public health (MEP) engineering, all of which are further sub-divided into the following:
Building services engineers work closely with other construction professionals; architects, structural engineers and quantity surveyors. They influence the architecture of a building and play a significant role on the sustainability and energy demand of a building. Within building services engineering, new roles are emerging, for example in the areas of renewable energy, sustainability, low carbon technologies and energy management. With buildings accounting for around 50% of all carbon emissions, building services engineers play a significant role in combating climate change. As such, a typical building services engineer has a wide-ranging career path:
In 1976 Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) was founded and received a Royal Charter in the United Kingdom, and formally recognising building services engineering as a profession. Its objectives of the Institution are to: support the Science, Art and Practice of building services engineering, by providing our members and the public with first class information and education services and promoting the spirit of fellowship which guides our work.
In recent years there has been increasing emphasis on sustainable and green design by the UK government, including in engineered building systems. Building services engineers increasingly seek BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method), CIBSE Low Carbon Consultants (LCC) and Energy Assessors (LCEA) status in addition to their Professional Engineering registration.
Many building services firms use computer-aided engineering (CAE) software programs, created either in-house or by external parties, to assist in their system design and analysis. This method has many benefits, including easier and more exhaustive visualization of proposed solutions, the ability to create virtual models for analysis and calculations, and the ease of use in spatial planning.
Building services engineers typically possess an academic degree in either building services engineering, mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. The length of study for such a degree is usually three years for a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) and four years for a Master of Engineering (MEng). Some of the degrees accredited by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers include:
Courses accredited by other Engineering Institution in the UK such as the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) are also accepted and satisfy the education requirement to become a building services engineer. After completing an accredited degree program the engineer must also satisfy a range of other requirements (including work experience and possibly exam and report-writing requirements) before acquiring the professional qualification. Once all the requirements are satisfied and depending on the academic route undertaken by the engineer, he or she is designated the title of either "Chartered Engineer" (CEng), "Incorporated Engineer" (IEng) or "Engineering Technician" (EngTech). There are international engineering agreements between relevant professional bodies which are designed to allow engineers to practice across international borders. Note that the term "Chartered Engineer" is mainly used in the UK and in most Commonwealth countries. In the European Union, "European Engineer" is used instead.
Programs in the United States, with those accredited by ABET shown with their year of initial accreditation, are:[1]
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