17 November 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has launched a 'wiki' to help it develop the building services industry's first technical guidance and standards for systems in tall buildings.
Responding to the surge in demand for detailed information about the specific challenges of designing systems for the growing number of existing and planned high structures, BESA is being supported by CIBSE and the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) in its aim to capture all available knowledge on this subject.
More than 200 high-rise buildings are planned for London alone, so the need for a unified set of technical advice and guidance for architects, engineers, contractors and FMs is clear, says BESA. Once complete, the information will be made available to members.
The wiki has been created so that association members with particular experience of working in high-rise structures can submit their technical know-how directly into a database that will be continually edited to build up a body of knowledge. The guidance eventually produced by this collaborative process will capture good design principles; define industry best practice; and identify all relevant standards, codes and regulations.