BEMS Consultancy

The recent revisions to Part L of the building regulations and requirement for AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) and aM&T (Automatic Monitoring & Targeting) driving energy efficiency and Net Zero, has placed renewed emphasis on the importance of these systems.

With advances in technology the options available for Building Management and Control Systems are virtually unlimited with related costs and associated benefits similarly varied.

A full understanding and correct interpretation of the end Client’s budgetary and operational requirements within the professional team is, therefore, essential.

Many Building Services Consultants, Developers, Design & Build Contractors or Facilities Managers do not employ in-house BMS/Controls Engineers and could, therefore, benefit from outsourcing impartial and unbiased specialist engineering input in order to enhance the service offered to their clients

A correctly designed and implemented Building Energy Management System is the cornerstone of any Building Services M&E installation and invaluable as a facilities and energy management tool. All of our engineers originate from the BMS and Controls Industry having worked for various systems houses and systems manufacturers in various technical design and project management roles. We have extensive in house knowledge of the BEMS and Controls industry, current systems & routes to market, smart technology and applications, including energy management strategies as well as of M&E systems in general.

With advances in technology, the integration options available for Building Management and Control Systems are virtually unlimited with related costs and associated benefits similarly varied. From a design perspective, we ensure that we understand the client operational and energy management requirements as well as any budgetary and logistical constraints in order to fully specify the appropriate bespoke systems solution for the particular application. This can include initial surveys and feasibility reports on existing systems through scheme design and budget approval to full detailed design stage to suit individual project requirements.
NDA Consulting work with all the major BEMS systems manufacturers and suppliers and have extensive in-house knowledge enabling us to provide ‘best of breed’ unbiased and impartial advice for our clients.

As a specialist BEMS and building services systems consultancy practice we have high level contacts within the controls industry and often unique access to specialist technical and commercial information and advice to the benefit of our clients. For example we were one of the first consultancies to be granted an official licence to utilise the Trend Control Systems SET (System Engineering Tool) software enabling us to more effectively understand existing systems configuration and assist in the preparation of our condition and feasibility reports and specifications as well as providing technical appraisals of newly engineered systems. In addition in order to support the growing requirement for Smart buildings platforms design and technical witnessing activities we have Tridium Niagara N4 TCP trained consultants and access to Niagara N4 and Trend IQVision N4 software to the benefit of our clients projects.
Some of the key platforms/systems/protocols which we work with and have knowledge of include amongst others;

• Trend Control Systems
• Tridium Niagara Framework Alerton Envision
• Honeywell ‘Optimizer’, Centraline (N4), EBI
• Siemens – Landis & Gyr/Staefa
• Johnson Controls/Easy IO/York
• Schneider Electric – Andover/TAC/Satchwell
• Industry standard open protocols LONworks, BACnet over IP, LON or MSTP, Modbus, M-Bus etc

From conceptual discussions through to practical completion and beyond, we help to ensure that the Client gets the right system, at the right price, provided by the right company at the right time, along with the right level of continued service and support.

NDA Consulting are happy to assist on an ad-hoc or full commission basis. However large or small the project or our involvement, we are able to provide significant benefits and added value to the project through our specialist knowledge and industry experience whilst providing a cost effective solution. Key benefits may include:

• Overall reduction in design costs
• Improved project cost control
• Improved efficiency and process management
• Correct systems, first time
• Improved operational efficiency
• Operational cost savings
• Improved energy efficiency
• Energy savings
• Reduced ‘life cycle’ costs
• Cost effective added value service

Emphasis is placed on client’s satisfaction and confidentiality at all times. Benefits are obtained by ensuring (depending on our brief):

• Unbiased and impartial advice at all times
• Clients are more informed of market and technical developments and available options during conceptual discussions
• System requirements more tightly defined in line with Client’s operational, energy management and budgetary requirements
• Close co-ordination of mechanical, electrical, public health and other specialist package design information into BEMS/systems specification and associated documentation
• BEMS & systems specialist manufacturers/contractors vetted to ensure suitability for project
• Close control of the tender, selection and procurement process
• Detailed analysis of tender returns and recommendations
• Detailed checks of BEMS/systems contractors technical submissions against specification
• Ongoing monitoring and management of BEMS/systems specialist contractor’s performance
• Management of off-site BEMS/systems witness testing i.e. MCC panel and BEMS/systems specialist software testing/witnessing
• Management of on-site BEMS/systems witness testing regime
• Early identification of controls related problems
• M&E engineers, FM Managers etc., freed up to carry out other tasks