SDESmith Design Engineering

Coverage

MEP consultants in London

MEP consultants for London. Mechanical, electrical and public health design for new buildings, refurbishments and fit-outs, with agreed site attendance.

The London skyline, with the City cluster of towers.

BUILDING SERVICES

M&E design and consultancy in London

SDE provides MEP design for new buildings, refurbishments and fit-outs in London. We coordinate heating, ventilation, power, lighting, water and drainage with the wider design team, with site attendance agreed to suit the appointment.

Tell us the site location, building use and design stage. We can discuss the surveys, drawings, calculations and coordination needed for your appointment.

Discuss your project

PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Project experience in London

BUILDING CONTROL

The statutory route here

London projects are subject to the Building Regulations 2010 and the Approved Documents in the same way as the rest of England, with approval through the relevant London borough or a registered building control approver.

London adds a planning layer that materially affects services design. The London Plan sets an energy hierarchy — be lean, be clean, be green, be seen — and a cooling hierarchy that requires passive measures to be demonstrated before mechanical cooling is accepted. Boroughs apply these through planning conditions, and the energy statement supporting a planning application has to demonstrate compliance with them.

The practical effect is that the energy strategy has to be developed for planning, well before the detailed services design, and the design that follows has to deliver what the energy statement promised.

AUTHORITIES

Local authorities in this area

QUESTIONS

Common questions

What does the London Plan require of building services design?

The London Plan sets an energy hierarchy and a cooling hierarchy that require demand reduction and passive measures to be demonstrated before mechanical cooling or additional plant is accepted. Compliance is demonstrated through an energy statement submitted with the planning application, which then commits the detailed design that follows.