Question

You have been employed by a medium-sized building services engineering firm. One of their potential clients, a property developer and management company which owns a number of commercial and multi-occupancy residential properties, is interested in the potential of Building Management Systems (BMS) to help them save money through better monitoring and control. Before hiring your firm to undertake the design and specification of BMS for their properties, they require further information and would like an example design.

LO3: Discuss the differences between Building Management Systems for domestic and non-domestic buildings.

1. Building Management Systems for domestic building present some very exciting opportunities to change the way we live and work, and to reduce energy consumption at the same time. Research the functions, components, software and systems suitable to establish a Building Management System for a large domestic installation. (P6)

2. Evaluate how a non-domestic Building Management System would differ from a domestic one. You may based on your report written for your client to prepare the explanation accordingly. (P7)

Answer 1

Domestic buildings can be also known as the residential buildings which may be used for living purpose where as the Non Domestic buildings are those which may be used for any official purpose such as the schools, offices or any administrative buildings. Both the type of buildings would have different management system as the work profile is different in both the building types.

(P6) Domestic Management gives variety in design and have vast range of thinking about the facilities as comfort needs to be provided in these kind of buildings and usually the most important comfort is thermal comfort of the people using the buildings. The looks and pattern of the design also matters as it needs to be updated with time for looking better. The functionality of the building should be in such a manner that each task is done with ease such as the water functioning or about the electricity fitting. The materials used in these domestic buildings should be of such manner that they provide pleasant atmosphere for living and create a balance in indoor environment. For large buildings usually in the urban areas many systems and software are also being used such as the lift system or fire alarm which ensures the safety of the public living there and these types of systems should be updated frequently and in some places the duct systems are also being provided in the domestic building so that good quality of air is being provided to the people living there.

(P7) Non Domestic buildings have much different managing system as compared to those of the domestic buildings. The safety and comfort features need to be provided in these kind of buildings also but some other technical enhancements needs to be done in these buildings. As these buildings include the formal work and contain high density due to the staff and other people using it. These buildings should be managed in the pattern that along with good looking and better design, it should also include the space management system. Space adjusting is the main feature in management of the non domestic buildings whether it be schools or any kind of office of any high profile company. The safety measures here should also be good but the good looking does not matters to the extent it needs for the domestic building. The safety should be regarding the amount of people using the facility as in any accident, huge amount of public needs to be evacuated and the loss would also be high in these types of building. These types of buildings can be located in any part whether it be an urban area or any rural area concerning the space given to it at the time of the construction.

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