The Power of Holistic Engineering | wsp

It’s vital for us all to collaborate from the start, understanding not only the visions of the client and architects but also the drivers of each engineering discipline, and how our designs impact on each other’s. Then, once the project’s underway, we must maintain the communication to ensure we understand the impact of every change we make to our designs and the challenges these may cause to other disciplines.

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Rather than hiding inside our silos we should look over our walls and take a 360-degree view to consider how what we are doing will affect others. What will be the knock-on consequences of a new beam on the services, for example?  If a larger chiller plant is required, how will it affect the structural loads, and will it be too noisy? A change in the specified façade glass might affect the internal environment and thus require the input of the mechanical or electrical engineers. A bigger riser may affect the building frame or the core layout, and have impacts for the VT or the fire engineer. These are just a few examples of the impact of design changes in a multi-disciplinary project.

It’s also worth remembering that, while, of course, we all aim for optimum value for our own discipline there may be alternative solutions that may not be the cheapest for us, but bring best value for the project.

Communication is the key. From the start, I like to have a weekly call with the leader of each discipline involved in the project. It really helps to get into each other’s heads, understand what everyone is most passionate about and what matters most to them. If every discipline leader is committed to being holistic, this naturally leads to all our engineers on the project engaging in that approach. This in turn helps the architect and the client, because it allows them to focus on solving the building problems, not the discipline problems.

22 Bishopsgate, Londres. Image courtesy of wsp