How to create an efficient project: giving value to facilities, integrating disciplines and knowing how to report
How to create an efficient project: giving value to facilities, integrating disciplines and knowing how to report
Listen to the needs, find the balance with the established budget, consider the plant system as a decisive component for the life of the work, over time.
As of 13 June, new regulations came into force as a result of Legislative Decree 199/2021, which stipulates new obligations for new buildings. For public buildings, the obligation to cover energy consumption by means of plants fuelled by renewable sources must be at least 65%, while for private ones it must not be less than 60% (read the news story for more details).
This decree restores value to the plant system in the design process. This is an aspect in which DVArea chose to invest by setting up DVMEP a year ago, with a specific focus on plant engineering, comfort and well-being.
The first 12 months were a period of settling in and positioning ourselves on the market, but the results achieved are good, so much so that, in terms of personnel alone, we doubled our staff from 9 to 18, plus the many partners with whom we collaborate, for particular contracts and different technical issues, and whom we can almost consider an integral part of the team.
DVMEP’s strength and distinctiveness lies in being part of the DVArea universe, which comprises various souls, each with its own role and professionalism. We can be competitive and comprehensive, and offer integrated solutions where, despite the interdisciplinary nature, no one has to improvise in a field that is not their own: I believe this is one of our strengths. And those who work with us manage to make that small leap in quality that would be very difficult in smaller companies.
DVMEP is the result of an innovative project, and the idea of having all cross-sectors in tune with each other managing various companies is appreciated by our clients, especially because there is a continuous exchange of ideas with colleagues and partners. We propose a different way of approaching the project than the classic sequence: architecture, structures, systems… It is different here. Each, of course, plays its own role from the off, but then there is dialogue to find the specific balance between the three disciplines.
Many times in our experience we have found ourselves with inadequate working drawings, most of which needed to be redone, and this generally occurs during the construction phase, with the consequent increase in costs, not only for the contractor, but also for the designer him or herself, who is forced into continuous variations, which are often not recognised by the client.
Today, the installation has more weight than the building, it can be estimated to be worth as much as the architecture, more than a third of the total. And the “revolution” proposed by Legislative Decree 199/2021 involves a series of evaluations not only on installations but also on technologies and building materials.
With DVArea we are able to have the entire building-system under control; therefore, we know the consumption and orientate choices regarding energy sources. With the new law that came into force in June, we have become central in design and construction. Installers take a leading role, being able to give the architects directions, suggesting the way forward to achieve the goal of energy efficiency and indoor and environmental quality, for example, first in the drawing and then on site.
Building, installation and structures: this is our paradigm. They are not three separate bodies, but an inseparable whole within which choices have to be made upstream, no one part is detached from the others. We offer integrated design solutions, but our DNA, that of the group we have created, is that we all have the same philosophy, following the path laid out by DVA.
Here we add another ambitious goal: to make engineers become a little like architects and vice versa. It may sound trivial, but this kind of interchange allows one to come up with similar ideas even before putting pencil to paper, and prompts the designer to think about whether their design can interfere with the work of other people. The same applies to the installer who tries to put himself in his colleagues’ shoes before doing his part of the job. Of course, there is still a long way to go to reach this interchange, we have only been operational for a year, but we are already well on our way (with a turnover of more than EUR 1 million).
Horizons? Grow. We aim to be among the top ten studios in Italy in MEP: we do not lack the experience to do so, we are an interdisciplinary team preparing for the future. An answer to which question? An innovative and highly specialised working methodology. From our point of view, even clients who have set up their own in-house technical structures will increasingly need specific technical advice on the evolution of standards and, above all, of technologies.
Investing in sustainability. In addition to the solutions to be adopted, our added value lies in the use of digital tools which enable us to predict consumption levels and performance parameters of the building. Countless are the possible solutions. However, through the use of data and models we try to find the best possible one for the specific context, based on the set budget. The various companies that make up the DVArea universe share the same vision in terms of methodology, while maintaining their own autonomy. This is exactly the base of the collaboration with other professional entities, architectural and engineering firms, who appreciate our multidisciplinarity and cross-pollination with architecture. This is also why we are confident that we will be able to meet the needs of the companies we cooperate with, as we share a common language.
Tag:
#systems #sustainability #integrateddesign #consumption #MEP #bigdata #performance #method #crosspollination
Roberto Belloni:
CEO. Technical Director DVMEP.
