MEP Engineering Design Services

MEP engineering

The engineering position

MEP is a spatial problem before it is a calculation problem

Sizing a duct is the part of MEP engineering that a competent graduate can do. Getting that duct through a structural zone, past a cable tray, above a ceiling that has already been set by the architect, with enough clearance left for someone to reach the fire damper in ten years' time, is the part that consumes the programme. We treat the two as one activity, because a size decided without the route is a size that will change.

Systems, not layers

A model in which chilled water pipework is a collection of cylinders is not an engineering model. It is a drawing that happens to be three-dimensional. Ours are authored with system assignment, connectivity and design parameters populated during authoring, so that "check the chilled water system" is an instruction a machine can resolve rather than an instruction to open a view and look.

Where our accountability starts and stops

BIMRACE provides engineering design and BIM delivery. Statutory approvals, authority submissions and the professional stamp belong to the licensed engineer of record on the project — your practice, or the local consultant you appoint. We are explicit about this because the alternative is a delivery model that quietly leaves a liability gap.

Deliverables

What is actually produced and issued

Any of these can be appointed on their own or combined. Nothing here depends on buying the intelligence layer, which is not for sale in any case.

DeliverableDiscipline models

Mechanical, electrical, public health and fire protection models authored to an agreed level of information need, with system assignment and design parameters carried on the elements.

DeliverablePlant room and riser layouts

Plant arrangement with maintenance and replacement access resolved, riser allocations by discipline, and builders work implications identified early rather than discovered on site.

DeliverableSizing and load calculations

Heating and cooling loads, duct and pipe sizing, electrical load schedules and distribution calculations — reconciled against the as-modelled network so the calculation and the model cannot silently diverge.

DeliverableEquipment schedules

Plant, terminals and devices scheduled from the model with performance data attached, so a schedule change and a model change are the same event.

DeliverableGeneral arrangement drawings

Plans, sections and details derived from the model, at the status codes the appointment requires.

DeliverableServices zoning strategy

Allocated horizontal and vertical zones per discipline, agreed before routing starts, which is what prevents coordination becoming a negotiation later.

How it runs

The sequence, and why it is in this order

Sequence is not a formality on this kind of work. Most of the expensive rework we are asked to fix was produced by doing step four before step two.

01

Scope and criteria

We agree disciplines, level of information need, deliverable list and the design criteria before any authoring starts. Ambiguity at this point is the single most expensive thing on an MEP appointment.

02

Model setup

Templates, shared coordinates, naming, classification and the project parameter schema are established first. This is the unglamorous work that decides whether anything can be checked automatically later.

03

Zoning and routing

Spatial allocation per discipline, then primary distribution. Routes are tested against clearance and access rules as they are drawn, not after.

04

Sizing and systems

Calculations driven from the modelled network, with results written back to the elements so the model carries the engineering, not just the geometry.

05

Coordination

Federation with the other disciplines, clash and clearance testing, resolution tracked to closure with the decision recorded.

06

Documentation and issue

Drawings and schedules derived from model state, QA rule set run before issue, and a named engineer signs.

What we need to start

The inputs that decide whether a start is a real start

Missing any of these is survivable. Not knowing which of them are missing is not, so we establish it at enquiry stage rather than at forty per cent.

Architectural and structural models or drawings, at whatever stage they exist
Design criteria, or the standard you want applied where criteria are not yet fixed
Room data sheets or a schedule of accommodation, if available
The EIR, BEP or BIM standard the project runs to — or ours, if there is none
Ceiling and clearance constraints, and who owns them
Programme, stage gates and the issue dates you are working to

Send us what you have

Automation

Where automation applies to this work

Every line carries its real status. Three of the four states on this site mean "not yet", and we use them.

AutomationParameter completeness checkingLive

Every element tested against the project parameter schema before issue, with failures clustered by cause so you fix a family or a template rather than 241 elements one at a time.

AutomationClearance and access rule setsLive

Maintenance access, valve access and damper access tested as rules rather than checked by eye. Most MEP coordination failures are access failures, and access failures do not appear in a clash report.

AutomationCalculation reconciliationLive

Sizing output compared against the as-modelled network so a duct that was resized in a spreadsheet and never changed in the model is caught before issue rather than on site.

AutomationModel interrogation and anomaly detectionIn development

Reading elements, parameters, systems and relationships as structured data and detecting what does not fit the pattern. In development, used on our own delivery, not a released product.

Scope boundary

What this appointment does not include

Published because a scope boundary discovered at month three is a dispute, and the same boundary stated at enquiry stage is just information.

We do not issue statutory or authority submissions, and we do not stamp drawings.
We do not hold professional engineering licensure in the territories listed under Locations. Where a stamp is required, it comes from your engineer of record.
We do not take on MEP design where no architectural or structural basis exists at all — there is nothing to coordinate against, and the work would be rewritten.
We do not offer the AI intelligence layer as a licensable product. It is internal software.

FAQ

Questions we are asked at enquiry stage

Do you provide MEP design, or only MEP modelling?

Both, and the distinction matters commercially. Modelling means authoring to a design someone else has fixed. Design support means we make the sizing, routing and system decisions against stated criteria and you review them. Say which you want at enquiry stage and the proposal will price the correct one.

Can you work to our templates and BIM execution plan?

Yes, and we prefer it. Working inside your standards means the model returns to you in a state your team can maintain. Where there is no standard, we apply ours and hand over the documentation for it.

Who signs off the engineering?

The engineer of record on the project. BIMRACE produces engineering design and BIM deliverables and a named BIMRACE engineer is accountable for the quality of what we issue, but statutory sign-off sits with the licensed professional appointed for that jurisdiction.

How do you handle a change to the architectural model mid-stage?

Re-federate, re-run the clearance and clash rule sets, and report what the change broke as a prioritised list grouped by discipline. Because the checking is rule-based rather than manual, the cost of re-checking after a change is a fraction of the cost of checking the first time — which is the practical argument for automating it.

What software do you work in?

Revit for authoring, Navisworks for federation and clash workflows, Dynamo and in-house routines for automation, IFC for exchange. Where a project mandates a different toolchain we work in it. Software names are listed to describe practice; no partnership is implied.

HVAC and ductworkLoad, sizing, distribution and plant — the discipline that usually sets the ceiling void. Electrical distributionContainment, distribution and the coordination conflicts containment causes. Public health and drainageGravity systems, the one discipline that cannot be rerouted around a problem. Fire protectionSprinkler coverage against structure, ceilings and every other service. BIM coordinationFederation, clash and clearance testing, issues tracked to closure. Healthcare MEPThe sector where clearance and validation dominate the coordination effort.

MEP engineering design and BIM services