Unit 1:

Introduction to IT

and the Built

Environment

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

i. Built Environment can be defined as: Structures and buildings designed and built to cater to the needs of occupants/people.

ii. The built environment is the basis of modern civilization. Human activities, from mundane housing issues to complex commercial facilities, are all associated with the built environment.

iii. Examples of the Built Environment include:

• Residential Buildings: E.g Flats, condominiums, etc;

• Industrial facilities: E.g Factories, power plants, water treatment plants, etc.

• Agriculture Activities: E.g Farms, Plantations, etc.

• Recreational facilities: E.g Gardens, stadiums, etc.

• Commercial facilities: E.g Shopping Malls, shophouses, etc;

• Aviation facilities (Airports).

iv. For the purposes of this module, we will narrow down the definition of built environment to mean actual buildings rather than outdoor, open concept facilities.

Typical Usages of the Modern

Day Built Environment:

Commercial (Top Left),

Industrial (Top Right) and

Agriculture (Bottom Left)

v. Building professionals generally carry out their work in two broadly categorized industries:

• Construction industry;

• Facilities Management/Operations Industry.

vi. When we look at the building environment, there are a number of key elements, or factors a building professional will need to be aware of:

a) Life cycle costing of a building:

• Cost is one of the main parameters to look into; methods to improve streamline costing, such as reducing building costs, reducing the schedule to completing construction phase or increasing the energy efficiency of a building, are being studied by building professionals;

• Life cycle costing of a building can generally be divided into the following:

Building and Construction Costs;

Operational and Maintenance Costs;

Demolition Costs.

b) Facilities function of the building

• In a typical building, the facilities function of the building is the most integral function as it will take up the majority of the building’s lifespan.

• The rough time line for buildings are as follows:

Design stage: 3 – 6 months;

Construction stage: 1.5 to 3 years;

Operational stage: 60 years (average);

Demolition stage (Approx. 1 -3 months).

• The types of Mechanical and Electrical Services must be well defined and fall under a strict maintenance program throughout the operational phase of the building.

• In order to manage a building efficiently, a basic computer system is the minimum requirement. The IT aspect of the building can be classified as:

Software: E.g Microsoft projects, autocad.

Hardware: Stand alone PCs, servers, Building Automation System (BAS).

i. IT, or Information Technology, is typically defined as: “the use of systems, such as computers or other forms of telecommunications equipment, to store, send, retrieve information and manipulate data in the context of an enterprise”.

ii. In terms of the built environment, the enterprise can be loosely defined for two related industries:

• The construction industry;

• The Facilities Industry.

iii. The IT software and hardware must therefore cater to the needs of these two particular industries, whose functions and requirements can be vastly different.

1.2 Defining Information Technology (IT)

1.3 LIFE CYCLE COSTING OF A BUILT

ENVIRONMENT

One of the main purposes of the IT function within the built environment is to keep track of the costs incurred throughout the life cycle of a built environment.

In any built environment, costs can be broadly classified as follows:

• Building and construction costs: These costs are usually one-of costs based on one-time supply and installation. For example, the construction of the lift shaft, lift motor room and the supply and installation of the lift car and other machineries constitute a one time cost;

• Maintenance and Operational costs: Maintenance and operational costs typically span the entire usable lifespan of the building. These costs are necessary either through mandatory laws (e.g regular servicing of lifts and related machinery), or through necessity (e.g changing of lighting tubes to cater to the needs of office workers).

• Demolition costs: Costs incurred to demolish buildings to make way for new buildings.

Thus, it can be deduced, based on the fact that Maintenance and Operational costs span nearly the entire life span of a building proper;

During the entire cost of the building’s life span, it is not surprising for buildings to incur more than 50% of its entire budget on operational and maintenance needs. The Facilities Management (FM) function thus plays an important role in keeping costs down, mostly by cutting down energy and water wastage.

1.4 HOW THE MODERN BUILT ENVIRONMENT

FUNCTIONS AS A HOLISTIC ENTITY

i. Modern day buildings are often laden with many technologies which enable the buildings to serve its occupants.

ii. Before taking into consideration the IT aspects of a modern building, it is important to note that a building must fulfil the following criteria:

• A conducive environment for occupants to carry out their activities;

• Provide a safety umbrella for occupants, e.g fire protection, security, etc;

• Taking into account the well-being of occupants, e.g fresh air ventilation to minimize sickness for occupants.

iii. In order to achieve these objectives, a building must therefore be served by a list of essential mechanical and electrical services. Without these services, a building is but an empty shell, unfit for human occupancy and usage.

iv. In any built environment, the most common, basic necessities are met via the following mechanical and electrical services:

v. From a facilities management point of view, it can be very difficult to manage these systems separately because even though they are treated as separate entities, these systems can very well be interlinked.

vi. For example, Elevators and escalators need to be connected to an electrical supply in order to work. Constant power trips, for example, will directly cause the lift and escalator to fail.

vii. From a maintenance point of view, there is a need to manage these services using a more holistic approach.

1.5 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT: INTRODUCING

THE BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (BMS)

i. When there is a need to manage the various building systems more efficiently, centralized computer systems may be introduced to assist the facilities function;

ii. Building Automation System (BAS), otherwise known as Building Management System (BMS), is a centralized computer system connected to the various mechanical and electrical services throughout a building.

iii. Such centralized systems allow users to control and monitor the various M & E services within the building.

iv. A “Smart” building managed by a BAS system will look like this on a schematic drawing:

1.6 HOW THE BMS WORKS

i. Building Automation Systems (BAS) are centralized, interlinked, networks of hardware and software to various M & E systems for monitoring and controlling the environment in commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities;

ii. Various aspects of M & E systems can be monitored and controlled via a centralized computer or laptop linked to the system;

iii. Sensors, valves and electronic controls are used on various systems to allow for controlling and monitoring purposes.

iv. Means of Controlling and Monitoring the Various M & E Services: In order to understand how the BMS integrates with the various services, it is also important to know the types of parameters which are under control and/monitoring:

Air conditioning and ventilation systems: (E.g Chillers, Split units, etc): Monitors and controls various aspects of air conditioning and ventilation, such as volumetric air flow, temperature, humidity, etc;

Electrical and lighting systems: Triggering of BAS system if there is power outage or lighting failure. Can be used to control lighting consumption by linking BAS to lighting;

Firefighting and detection systems (E.g Sprinklers systems, fire alarm systems, etc): Monitors potential fire incidents by triggering and indicating fire source in BAS system;

Portable Water System: Monitoring of water consumption. Triggers alarm to BAS system if water level or water pressure is low;

Security System: Centralized BAS can be connected to BAS system to monitor security equipment, such as security sensors, CCTVs, etc;

Lifts and escalators: Monitoring of lifts and escalators. Alerts BAS should there be a breakdown.

v. The benefits of using a fully installed BMS system are as follows:

a) Ensures operational performance of the facility as in terms of

comfort and safety of building occupants;

b) Less staff required to monitor facilities, as most of the M & E

services can be monitored from a centralized computer system;

c) Through automation, BAS systems can help reduce electricity

usage, such as air conditioning and lighting by turning them off

when not in use or reducing their intensities during peak periods;

d) User friendly. Most BAS systems do not require intensive training

in order to operate them efficiently.

i. Before commencing on the type of IT software used in the construction industry, it is important to have an understanding on how construction of an facility is being executed;

ii. All modern day buildings have to go through several construction phases, which can be briefly summarized as follows:

• Initiation stage: The design stage is the beginning of a construction project. Specialist consultants and architects are drafted in, usually by the developer or government authority, to design a building based on user’s requirements;

• Design Stage: All building plans are designed and must be submitted to the various government authorities, such as the Building Construction Authority (BCA) for approval;

• Preparation stage: After the plans have been approved, a Bills of Quantities (BQ) must be drafted and opened for tendering by external contractors;

• Construction Stage: Actual construction works; • Turn Key/Handing Over: After the building has been constructed, it is

turned over to the developer. After the defects liability period, the facilities function will take over from the construction management team.

1.7 Introduction to the Construction Methodology

Different Stages in a Construction Project

i. Both the construction and facilities industries are inseparable, in a sense that they their work may sometimes be intertwine or are similar to each other;

ii. For example, a building firm may actually be using the same drafting software as, say, a facilities firm because even though the facilities firm may not be conducting a large scale project, they will need to drafting software for minor projects or record keeping purposes.

iii. The types of software used by both industries of the built environment are best defined by the type of work, rather than their industries;

iv. Software's can include:

• General recording purposes, using generic Microsoft software, such as Excel and Word;

• Document/information sending and retrieval using emails and other communication tools;

• General Searching purposes using the World Wide Web. • Keeping track of project timeline using Microsoft Project; • HR Issues: Microsoft softwares, Excel and Word, are mostly utilized for record

keeping purposes; • Drafting and design work, using design software such as Autocad. • Managing various M & E Systems in a Maintenance/Facilities function, using

BAS or BMS.

1.8 Types of Software required for the Built Environment

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

1) The Built Environment is essential to many human activities associated with modern civilization.

i. Define the “Built Environment”. (2 marks)

ii. Identify the criteria associated with the built environments in terms of benefits

to its occupants (3 marks).

iii. Information Technology is often integrated with modern day buildings to form

what is termed as “Smart Buildings”. Briefly define “Information Technology”

(3 marks).

iv. Identify the two main core industries associated with the built environment, as

well as the type of IT equipment which must be integrated with the built

environment to form a “Smart Building” (4 marks).

v. One of the main functions of Information Technology is to track the life cycle

costing of the building. Identify and explain the types of costs involved, and

give two examples of two types of costs which can be tracked (8 marks)

2) The modern building does not exist as an empty shell; rather, it is often served with a number of Mechanical and Electrical Services.

i. Identify the M & E services within the built environment (7 marks).

ii. Briefly explain why, from a facilities management point of view, why

it is very difficult to tackle these M & E services separately. Give one

example to justify this (2 marks).

iii. Explain in detail why Building Automation System (BAS) is used in

buildings. Illustrate using simple schematic drawing, how the BAS

system is integrated with the M & E services of a building (8 marks).

iv. Give three advantages of how the BMS system helps the facilities

management team to manage the building on a day to day basis (3

marks).

3) The Construction Industry goes through several phases, all of

which at some point utilizes one form of Information

Technology or another.

i. Identify and explain the several basic phases of the

construction methodology (10 marks).

ii. List down the 5 examples of works associated with the

Construction Industry and provide at least a software each to

each of the identified works (10 marks) .