The Seed and Deptford Landings: Two Passivhaus projects from an MEP engineer’s perspective
MEP engineering
We design low-energy, low-carbon mechanical, electrical, and public health (MEP) systems for buildings: keeping them warm in winter and cool in summer; well-lit and well-ventilated; the water hot and the drains flowing; and, above all, their inhabitants comfortable. Simply put, as MEP engineers, we design buildings that are a pleasure to be in.
About MEP engineering
We elegantly and sympathetically integrate our systems with architectural designs, whether those are for a new social housing development or the refurbishment of a Grade I-listed museum. We design without fossil fuels, take a passive approach to environmental control, and work hard to design and control our MEP systems to be ultra-low energy in use, intuitive to operate, and easy to maintain, as well as reliable, resilient, and affordable.
Care and collaboration – both with clients and the wider design team – is one of our biggest strengths. We take the time to really understand our clients’ needs; to think critically about each engineering problem as a unique one; and to challenge the limits of received wisdom to reduce operational energy costs wherever possible. The result is beautiful engineering.
Case studies
Total of 2 projects
Related journal entries
AJ Retrofit Live and Circular Build 2024
- 11 September 2024
- 11:35 – 12:05 BST
- London
All services
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All buildings should be comfortable and a pleasure to be in: warm, well-lit, well-ventilated, well-used, and well-loved. Our mechanical and electrical engineering, vertical transportation, acoustics, daylight, and lighting design services can help ensure just that. We maximise passive measures such as natural ventilation and daylighting, seamlessly dovetailing our designs with the building’s own form and architecture to result in simple, low-energy, and low-cost building services.
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In the face of an increasingly urgent climate emergency, it’s crucial that buildings consume as little energy as possible in their operation. Low energy, low carbon, and low operational costs are our watchwords when it comes to designing new buildings or retrofitting existing ones. We help our clients build sustainability goals into masterplans or early-stage feasibility studies, decarbonise existing estates, and optimise how a building performs against its targets for sustainability and user comfort.
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Meeting net zero carbon targets and minimising a building’s impact on the environment means reducing embodied carbon – the carbon tied up in the materials like steel, concrete, and plastic that go into a building’s construction and services design – as much as operational carbon (the carbon a building produces in its heating, cooling, and lighting). We facilitate material reuse with circular economy strategies, steer low embodied carbon design from the earliest project stages with whole life carbon assessments, and offer advice on planning and compliance, all helping to reduce the carbon footprint of construction.