Design Plan for Sustainable Office Building in the City

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie 

Published: 6th of March 2014

INTRODUCTION

The Chartered Institute of Building UK (2013), made the statement that the issue of sustainability if becoming of great concern to the construction industry. This concern has grown in recent years due to broader recognition of the population growth and economic development that seems to be of great threat to the progressive depletion of natural resources in the world. The institute also noted that the construction, maintenance and use of building has great impact of the environmental sustainability and it is also contribution critical to the irreversible change of the global climate, atmosphere and ecosystem. This is because; buildings are by a significant margin the highest producers of harmful gasses such as CO2. In that case, sustainability is important in the construction industry as it will aid in the elimination of these factors and creating a more suitable environment for the survival of future generation.

Sustainability in real sense implies the undertaking of today’s task in such a way that it doesn’t affect the successful adoption of such task or related task in the future or basic the way future generations will be able to survive. Thus, the institute of chartered builder UK is right in highlighting sustainability in the construction industry as being of high significance. This is because, the construction industry makes use of numerous natural resources in order to provide residential homes for people of the present generation, and since these natural resources are not renewable, understanding the way to minimize the use of such resources is important as it will contribute greatly to maintaining the ecosystem.

This is the idea behind this paper, which is developed to design a sustainable office building in the city centre that will be constructed in such a way that it doesn’t influence the environment negatively and security features are installed to ensure that protection of lives and properties in the building.

GENERAL DESIGN FOR ACCESS AND ESCAPE

Introduction

For this proposal, the building is suited in the city centre and it is four storeys by height. In order for the building to adhere to stringent fire regulation, a system which is in compliance with BS regulations will be adopted in relation to fire control, evacuation and occupancy. Based on statistics, it has been found that most of the fires occurring in non-domestic places are a product of faulty electrical connections or appliances.

Analysis/regulations

The building being proposed in this paper will comply with all regulation in relation to fire fighting, safe evacuation in times of danger and easy escape routes. In accordance with the clause 2.9.8 of the non-domestic handbook has the notion that escape routes must be constructed with a minimum of 1200mm wide space. This is because it will give the occupants (which also include those that are physically impaired) to escape the building at the time of danger safely and efficiently.

Strategies/recommendations

Testing – test have shown that most of the fires occurring in offices are because of faulty electrical appliances, and on that account routine portable appliance testing (PAT test) should be carried out. This will increase safety and reduces the causes of fire.

Escape – all the escape routes will be designed to accommodate at least a medium level of fire resistance system in the topmost storey, and it will be lesser than 18m in height.

Based on the accounted documented above in the non-domestic technical handbook the number of deaths as a result of fire is more significant in domestic areas than in the non-domestic areas. Occupants’ behaviour and capabilities influences the potential for increased death and injuries, and this means that a central escape strategy will be employed in the building design. This will be based on escapes designed in compartments to give a safe and effective escape route for the occupants.

The escape route will be designed to allow for a simultaneous movement amongst the occupant with reduced lead time that will ensure that all the occupants move freely and fast if fire occurs. In accordance with the excavation time recommended in the non-domestic technical book, it was noted that the design of the building should allow for maximum travel distance of 45M, and this will be the setting for the building.

Fire exits – the minimum number of room exist as recommended by the UK government (sbsa.gov.uk) is the setting from which most of the building will be designed. In any case, it was stated that the building must be designed in a flexible way to allow for some of the rooms to be incorporates into two exists which is recommended for offices with 61-600 employees. This is also the setting for the development of the fire exit centres in the building.

Stairs – the example setting for stairs is that it should be at least 1200mm wide in order to provide the occupants with sensory, cognitive and/or mobility impairment with a chance to safely escape. All of the stair will in the building will be based on this weight and they will also be fixed with safe escape measures that will round up to at least 1500x1500 in millimetre. Communication system will also be installed in order to communicate the real movement on the stairs in times of danger to the rescuers and alert the occupants in terms of danger to escape.

Fire detection – installation of category L1 system will be made in the building. This will provide the occupants with the real-time warning of fire and as such given them the longest time availability for escape. This automatic fire system will be installed in accordance with te BS 5939; part1 and connected to the fire control panel at the main entrance. This is beneficial to the fire fighter as it would provide them with the opportunity of understanding where the fire is and how to handle it.

Fire-fight – the building will feature a fire fighting stairs with ventilation, unvented fire fighting lobbies and a dry fire fighting main entrance. This is to ensure that the fire fighters are provided with the right environment necessary to create an effective and efficient fire fighting strategies and save lives in the process.

Ventilation – the stairs will features ventilations that will allow the occupants to escape safely and also provide the fire fighters with the right environment for rescue. The ventilation will be designed in such a way that it can be controlled by the fire fighters if that is deemed necessary.

Conclusion

All the systems to be contained in this building will be designed in such a way that they are in compliance with all regulation and guidelines provided by the government towards reducing the threat of fire outbreaks to properties and humans.

STRUCTURAL FRAME PROPOSALS

Introduction

Just like the general design for escape discussion above, the structural frame will be based in such a way that all designs are in line with the regulations set by the respective bodies and the issues to be address are as discussed below.

Structural materials and their advantages and disadvantages

The construction of the office will be done with volumetric pods and the support for these pods will be done with a lightweight steel frame structure. The laying of the volumetric pods will be on the foundation that has already been prepared in order to form the dwellings for the offices such as the changing areas, cafeteria and others. In order to usher the open spaces needed in an office, the pods will have glass screen walling, and these glass screens can be removed depending on how much of open spaces that is needed. They will also arrive at the site with all the electrical and plumbing features already incorporated and only needs to be fixed to the marked out areas. This will enhance the building time and also increase efficiency as all approaches and designs have been pre-developed.

In any case, this also has the disadvantage of high cost as compared with the conventional building strategy. Although savings will be made from decrease in construction time and reduction in the need for workers, the amount of steel and concrete needed to ensure such approach becomes a success will significantly increase cost.

Safety and fire protection

Generally, the use of reinforced concrete within the lift shaft and fire escapes will increase the occupant’s safety because the reinforced concrete is able to withstand heats up to 1000C^O without being weakened structurally. As such, the occupants will be offered to escape from the building at period of emergency without having the structural integrity of the building being weakened.

Efficiency

The adoption of volumetric pods increases the efficiency of the construction method. The fact that these pods arrive predesigned means that the building process is enhanced as it eliminates the extra time required to create this structure from the scratch. This will also increase the quality of the structure as they will be designed with defined standards.

Constructability and build ability

This will be straightforward as the pods arrive the site in simply craned segments and can as such be put where they are needed. The steel frames will be constructed into the pods off site and then lowered into place onsite based on the building requirement.

Sustainability and environmental protection

This is part of the basic requirement in the new building and this will be ensured by the fact that the steel pods and reinforce concretes will be constructed offsite. The adoption of pure steel and concreted that is also constructed offside reduces the need for pillar set woods which is applicable in sight and also reduces the overall exposure of workers to hazardous materials. Additionally, the steel pods can be recycled and reused and as such it increases sustainability in the system.

Conclusion

The structure has been designed in such a way that sustainability is increases while also negative impact is reduced and employees’ safety increased with the offsite construction.

BASEMENT AND FOUNDATION DESIGN

Introduction

The design of basement for the proposed office development is very important in the overall design of the building. There are numerous factors that will be put into consideration in the process of evaluating the different methods that are obtainable in the design process and they include: the condition of the soil and the level of water table. Reports however suggests that basement can be constructed through an open excavation, excavations that are supported temporarily or excavations that are supported by the structural members which will be in the form of new structures.

Open excavation

In open excavation, the approach involves excavating a large amount of soul and leaving the perimeter open in order to allow for the basement to be constructed. Open excavation is considered a much safer approach and this is based on the understanding that it would reduce the risk of collapse because the foundation of the building has been dug deep into the soil, and it also provides a much greater work space for carrying out the operations.

Temporarily support for excavation

For big excavations, temporary support will be provided by the aid of a steel “H” section which will be used to interlock the sheet piles. However, this is not a viable solution because it cannot be used in cases where the ground water is not stable, and it need that the piles be driven deep down into the ground before any excavation work can be adopted.

Excavation supported by structural member

When it becomes necessary to deliver the building within strict deadline, this method is used and it is fast becoming very popular. This is because it can save cost as it reduces the need for temporal support that can be very expensive. The fact that these supports are provided by the structural design also means that the construction time is significantly reduced as the additionally structures can easily be screwed together in order to form the main building.

Recommendation

From a close analysis, it can be seen that the need for open excavation is eliminated as a result of numerous restrictions laid on the site, and the need for steel sheet piling is also reduced because of the high risk it presents with vibrations.

The safest and recommended approach now becomes the second wall system which is constructed in hard/hard fashion. It is also economical and a cost effective approach in the construction of the office. As a result of the nature of the site, a slop drilling up will be adopted in the formation of boreholes that the piles will be placed in. Once the piles have been perfectly placed, they will be tied together by the reinforced crapping beams which are cost in-situ; as they help in the distribution of the loads from the structure above and carries the distributed loads down to the piles and safely into the soil.

Conclusion

A number of basement technologies such as the diaphragm walling or continuous bored piling will be great options for the project but the analysis have shown that the second wall has the biggest advantage and this is based on the understanding that it is fairly quick and easy to install and also offers the most robust solution for fighting waster over flow in the building or in the ground level of the soil.

CLADDING AND ROOFING PROPOSALS

Introduction

In order to enclose the interior of the building cladding will be required and this will also form part of the structure in the end. There are vast materials that can be used for cladding purpose in the form of development and decision, but they are influenced by a number of factors. The purpose of cladding is to offer the enclosure through the use of walls spanning between the points of structural support on the facade of buildings. The cladding materials will be in numerous forms as required by the design, but cladding are not designed for the purpose of carrying any structural loads. The different the different types of cladding are as discussed below.

Masonry cladding

This form of cladding is used on framed building that come in the excess of 12 meter in cases where the construction of cavity wall is not possible. In cases where memory claddings are selected, special attentions are given to the anchorage system.

Stone cladding

Stone cladding are generally experienced in large individual sections that are produced with marble, slate, sandstone, lime or granite. While this is somewhat similar with the masonry cladding, these sections of stone are required in more complex fixing supports. On that account, it is important to note that stone cladding are much thinner than the masonry cladding and this ushers in the needed help in the design stage when loads are being calculated.

Rain screen cladding

This form of cladding system is designed in order to provide the needed ingress of air at the top bottom of the system. This form of ventilated cavity makes it possible for any water which might have penetrated the panel joint to be removed partly by the stack effect and partly by the running down of water near the surface of the panel and out of the base.

The three forms of cladding discussed above will be adopted at different stages of the construction and this is to ensure that all the construction process are well cladded based on the required setting.

Roofing

The roofing will also be constructed with metal sheets and it will be properly fitted in order to ensure that any possible linkage is eliminated as this will subsequently eliminate the chances of the building being flooded with water. In times of fire, the steel roofing will also reduce the chances of the building being exposed to fire damages as is possible with cases where wood are used for roofing.

INTERNAL COMPONENTS

In order to ensure that the building is fully maintained and the risk of fire or other hazards reduced, there will be a number of internal components that will be established in the process and these components will be basically designed to regulate actions in the building and ensure that practices are in line with the defined objective of eco-friendly and sustainable construction. The internal components come in the form of:

Centralized management system

In order to ensure proper management of all the building concepts and the integration of sustainability features amongst the occupants’ behaviour and attitude towards the facilities contained in the building, there will be a well-organized central management system that features operations control, monitoring and regulation of activities that go on in the offices. While this is not designed to inconvenience the occupants, it is geared towards ensuring that all the occupants undertake their business process in ways that doesn’t increase the potential of fire related issues in the offices.

The central management system will draft how activities in the offices will be undertaken and the laws that occupants are expected to abide with in order to ensure that they don’t endanger the offices with their activities. Consequences will be issued out to occupants that violate these safety codes and it can range from fines to legal prosecutions. The main purpose of this system is to ensure that activities are undertaken in the offices precautionary and any potential threat to lives and properties eliminated.

Computerized security system

The offices will be constructed with an eye on the security features in order to provide the occupants with the needed security on their resources. It has been identified earlier that the office will be located in the centre of the city amongst other high-end building and the level of population in the city calls for the need of security features to be computerized in order to ensure that the properties in the building are protected against burglaries. Such features will come in the form of alarm in cases where security behaviours are detected, and also alarm for fire related hazards.

Conclusion

The internal components of these offices are designed with the main purpose of enhancing the main purpose of enhancing the overall management and security features in the offices in order to ensure that external influences doesn’t distort the operational normalities in the building or yield any negative influence in the form of decreased securities that might put properties and occupants at risk of loss.

FIRE CONTROL

Introduction

In accordance with the Scotland fire safety regulation of 2006, it is stated that “whenever necessary – where it is as a result of the features of the relevant premises, the activity that is being carried out in this premises, or any hazard that is present at the premise – in order to reduce the level of fire hazards caused by people, occupants of buildings need to:

The safety of the premises is secured with the installation of necessary safety measured and that the people residing in that place should be well educated and competent with the fire fighting skills needed to reduce the influence of fire damages on the premises.

On that account, the building will feature a number of fire fighting tools and the occupants will be educated on the necessary fire fighting skill in order to ensure that the risk of fire is reduced significantly in the building. This will come in the form of:

Installed fire extinguishers and sprinklers

All the offices in the building will come with installed fire extinguishers and sprinkling rolls that will allow for the fire extinguisher to easily touch all areas of the building when they are being applied in terms of fire. This is significant as it would reduce fire related damages and it can even lead to full extinguishing of fire by the people working in the area without the help of fire fighters.

Personal fire fighting team in the security department

In order to further enhance the effectiveness of the fire fighting plan, an internal team will be established within the security department that will be responsible for looking into all fire related issues and providing fire fighting services whenever such is demanded. Although the city might have a well-managed fire fighting service, the idea of an internal system is to ensure that the fire engulfing from the building in terms of such incidence doesn’t produce significant damages as the internal system will offer faster services than external system. However, whenever fire disaster happens in the offices, the state owned fire service will also be called in to support the internal fire service. The internal fire service is basically meant to reduce the fire damages that might occur from having to wait for the external services to arrive.

Conclusion

Fire control is very important in the building and this is based on the understanding demonstrated in this paper that such will help advance the security features of the building, reduce fire related hazards and impact significantly on the protection of properties in the building. As such, the features suggested in this paper in relation to fire control are designed to enhance the security of the properties in the building and also protect the lives of people in the building as well.

MAINTENANCE PLAN

Introduction

Although a number of security features have been implemented into the building design, it must be noted that these features cannot be well utilized if not properly maintained and lac of maintenance can lead to wears and tears that will eventually put the system illicit as it puts the life of people in the building at risk. In order to ensure that the system is well functional, a number of maintenance features will be integrated into the system and they come in the form of:

Regular maintenance checks

For all the system to be installed, regular maintenance checks will be employed in order to ensure that they are well services and maintained as such will improve their functionality. Considering the fact that the main purpose of security features installed in the office is to reduce the threats of fire related issues and security threats to the properties, the system will be upgraded with subsequent upgrade in the existing features in order to offer advanced and sophisticated security that stands the best chance of protecting people and properties in the offices.

By laws for occupants

During the process of contracting the offices to the occupants, they will be persuaded into signing by laws that will coordinate the way business activities are undertaken in the new building in order to ensure that these occupants don’t conduct their business activities in ways that jeopardize the security system of the offices and put lives and properties at risk. All these maintenance features are designed to ensure sustainable operations through reduction in faulty system and enhanced system mechanism in the offices.

CONCLUSION

From the above discussions, it can be seen that sustainability is possible in the construction industry and this is based on the understanding that implementation of certain features will enhance the security system of the building while also reducing the influence of hazardous occurrence on lives of people in the building and on the properties contained in the building. Basically, the key element loaded into the construction design presented in this paper is based on the understanding of how the building will  be constructed in a way that resources used doesn’t impact negatively on the environment and occupants are protected against fire while their properties are protected against theft.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that a number of security features in the form of alarms against burglaries, fire fighting systems, escape route and construction efficiency have been adopted in order to ensure that the new design wont impact on the surrounds and also that the properties of occupants are protected. Besides that, a centralized management system with computerized security features with maintenance plan has also been designed for the new building. On that accounted, it is expected that the new building will offer higher protection to properties and people that make use of the building as the necessary features have been installed in order to ensure safety and also offer the occupants higher chances for survivability in cases where the building experiences fire outbreak.

References

The Chartered Institute of Building (2013), “Sustainability and construction.” Available at: http://www.ipbassociates.com/uploads/Sustainability_construction_1287073859.pdf [Accessed on: 21/03/2013].