DESIGN METHODOLOGY FOR MECHANICAL SERVICES INSTALLATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Mechanical design methodology describes the concept that used to design air conditioning,
mechanical ventilation, water supply, foul/ waste water and rain water drainage system, and fire fighting
system, lifts and waste management system.

2.0 AIR CONDITIONING AND VENTILATION SYSTEM

The selection of the air conditioning and ventilation system for the building has been based on the
following.
 Comfort and Indoor air quality requirements
 Flexibility to accommodate changes.
 Installation and maintenance costs.
 Easy of maintenance
 Space allocation and architectural design layout.

The design of the system is based on the following criteria:

Outdoor conditions of 35OC DB and 31OC WB and RH: 75%

Indoor conditions to be maintained at 22 ± 2OC DB and RH: 50% ±5

This is in conformity with the BS 5720:1979 and basis of which cooling capacities were established by
considering different factors that contribute to sensible and latent loads to come up with the condition
that comforts human being.

Sensible and latent heat loads include;

 Solar heat gain through glass by radiation
 Sensible transmission through glass by conduction
 Solid/external walls heat gain by conduction
 Internal loads i.e. people, lighting and electrical equipments
 Ventilation/ infiltration gains

(a) Air Conditioning System

 Variable refrigerant volume (VRV) air conditioning system selected to serve bank and office
spaces
 This system comprises of a set/ one outdoor unit that feeds several number of indoor units.
 Ceiling suspended cassette indoor units have been provided to ensure comfort cooling into the
respective room/ space
 All outdoor units shall be positioned on rooftops.
 The capacity of units is based on the green mark calculations of cooling loads established in
every floor for apartment’s room and corrected as per designed conditions of the standard units
 The type of the indoor unit is selected based on the uses of the area.
 Each indoor unit installed shall be controlled with wired remote controller.
 Type of refrigerant shall be R410A which is user friendly to the environment
  Consumes less electricity with high coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.52 to 4.02

(b) Refrigerant Piping

 The refrigerant piping layout designed according to the Architectural layout of the building while
the pipe size design based on the cooling load capacity of the unit.
 Refrigerant pipes shall be seamless Copper tubes conforming to B.S. 2871
 Refrigerant pipes shall be insulated as recommended by manufactures

(c) Condensate Drainage Pipes

 All drains pipes from fan coil units shall be uPVC of minimum 20m diameter insulated with
armaflex insulation of minimum thickness 10mm and fully vapour sealed, to avoid condensation
on external surfaces of pipe work.

(d) Insulation
 Insulation for Refrigerant and Condensate Drainage pipes shall be Armaflex, chemical cross
linked foam polyethylene type or equivalent, minimum thickness of 10mm. All joints shall be
vapour sealed.

(e) Ventilation System

Toilets
 All toilets are provided with extract fan to remove un-pleasant smell generated within toilet.
 Where natural ventilation is not efficient, an extract fan shall be provided to improve ventilation
 8 air changes per hour will be used to size the extract fan as recommended by CIBSE.

Kitchen
 Kitchen hood will be provided for the purpose of removing gaseous, liquid and solid
contaminant produced in the kitchen during cooking processes.
 The system comprised kitchen hood, duct and extract fan with appropriate capacity established
by considering 10 air changes per hour as recommended by CIBSE.
 Associated ducts are designed adequately and properly in accordance with “HVCA
Specifications for Sheet Metal ducts work-DW/144.1998”
 All ducts are specified of 1.0mm thick hot-dip galvanized steel to BS.EN:10142.
 Selection of shape and velocity was based on “CIBSE GUIDE- Flow of Fluids in Pipes and ducts
1997

Car park Ventilation System

 Ventilations of car parks are necessary in order to avoid the risk of fire and explosion arising
from petrol fumes, and to prevent injury to health from toxic gases present in the vehicle
exhausts. Natural ventilation is adopted on car parks situated above ground level while
mechanical ventilation is adopted on car parks situated below ground level.
 Make-up air to the basement floor has been considered by introducing opening holes surrounding
the entire external/retaining wall except water tank side.
 Flat Jet fans with carbon monoxide sensor/ detector shall be installed with ability to remove
smoke in a polluted air for basement car park space.
 Stair case pressurization System
 Pressurization system has been provided to two fire escape stair cases to ensure safety during
fire.
 On each stair case, the system unit comprises two air supply fans their air inlet facing different
directions to ensure clean air supply during fire.

3.0 WATER SUPPLY INSTALLATION

(a) Water Source
 Water shall be tapped at site from nearby existing main water supply pipe line – for Dar es
Salaam Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (DAWASCO).
 Alternatively, we shall have a borehole to supplement the public water supply system. This
should be considered during construction stage after conforming the quality of water from water
test results done by a qualified laboratory
 Underground water from borehole will be purified prior to discharge into main reinforced
concrete underground water storage tanks
 Water from local authority taping point and borehole will be discharged into underground
reinforced concrete water storage tanks at basement floor through Ø50mm HDPE pipe.

(b) Water Supply

 Indirect system has been designed to supply water to all appliances because the pressure from
local authority (DAWASCO) Water Supply main pipe line is insufficient to supply water to the
fixtures at all times of the day on the highest floors of the building (60m)
 Indirect system; water from source will discharged into underground water tanks then pumped to
roof storage tanks where from it will flow by gravity to the sanitary appliances and other wet
areas.
 The roof tanks shall be placed on the highest rooftop of the building to gain more pressure
 Cold water storage requirements for residential apartments building has been established by
using a method adopted based on Charted Institute of Building Services (CIBSE):

Total Daily Water Storage = Number of Occupants × Storage per Person (Litres)

Recommended minimum storage of cold water for hot and cold water service by CIBSE
guide G (2004)

Type of Building Storage Per Person (Liters)

Hostels 90
Hotels 135
Offices with canteens 45
Offices without canteens 40
Restaurants, per meal 7
Boarding School 90
Day School – nursery/primary 15
Day School – secondary/technical 20
Children’s home/ Residential nursery 135
 Nurse’s home 120
Nursing or convalescent home 135

(c) Water Storage System

 We have reinforced concrete underground water storage tank with capacity of 300m 3. This
capacity will serve for domestic and fire fighting requirements
 Two roof water storage tanks made from glass reinforced plastic (GRP) sectional tanks each with
capacity of 40m3, size: 5×3×3m (LxWxH) to serve for daily domestic uses only.
 The tanks sizing considered a storage capacity that can serve for five (5) days in case of shortage
of water from source.

(d) Water Purification Plant

 We have proposed to have one purification plant for borehole/ground water, so as to improve the
quality of water.
 The capacity of purification plant and associated equipments will be detailed during construction
stage based on outcome of water testing results

(e) Booster/ Transfer Pumps

 We have water transfer pump sets, that will pump water from underground water storage tank to
roof tanks by using vertical multistage pump sets, each set comprises (duty and standby pump)
each with capacity of 20m3/hr – 80m head
 The pump will operate automatically by means of low level and high level controller integrated
to pump electrical switch gears in order to ensure that pump does not run dry.
 The pumps will operate alternating according the schedule to be established, and each pump will
pump the water to fill the roof tank for 4 hours per day.

(f) Hot water heater

 Hot water for kitchen purposes will be heated by electric water heater with appropriate capacity
as indicated on the drawings.

(g) Pipe Work for water distribution network

 Water from the roof tanks down to the sanitary appliances and other fittings will be flowing by
gravity through Geberit MEPLA pipes with sizes calculated using methods developed by British
Institute of plumbing as follows.

Branch Pipe
Main Pipe,
Nominal Diameter (mm) Internal Diameter (mm)
Diameter (mm)
100 75 65 50 40 32 25 20 15
100 1 2 3 6 10 17 32 56 115
75 1 2 3 5 9 16 28 56
65 1 2 4 6 11 19 39
50 1 2 3 6 10 21
 40 1 2 4 6 12
32 1 2 4 7
25 1 2 4
20 1 4
15 1
The above table indicates how many branches of a certain diameter can be connected to a main
pipe of a certain diameter.

4.0 DRAINAGE INSTALLATION

(a) Foul/ Waste Water Drainage System

 Drainage system designed according to architectural layout. Foul/waste water from the sanitary
appliances and other fittings will be discharged into Main stack pipe down to ground floor then
connected to first manholes.
 From the manholes, the drainage will be connected to near by public sewer line
 Basically the discharge unit values assigned to each fixture as per BS 5572 of 1978 has been
adapted in analysis and waste water flow computations.
 When assessing the use factors and consequential peak flow rates in wastewater drain, the
following has been considered in accordance with EN 752-4:1997:
-The number and type of appliances to be connected and the possibility of coincidence of
discharge from different appliances
-The rate of discharge from each appliance
-The average duration of discharge from each appliance
-The likely use of interval of each appliance

 We have specified GEBERIT HDPE pipe for foul/ waste water drainage system
 The pipe joints should be strong and leak proof.
 The minimum pipe recommended to be used in building drainage is as follow:
Vertical Soil Stack = Ø100mm,
Vertical Waste Stack = Ø75mm and Ø100mm,
Waste pipe for shower = Ø50mm
Waste pipe for hand wash basin =Ø40mm

(b) Rain Water Drainage System

 We have designed a Drainage system; that during raining water running off on the rooftops will
be sloped at the edge of the roof and directed to the down pipes through debris washer/fulbora.
Water from down pipe through manholes at ground level will be discharged to rain water
channel for disposal.
 We have specified fulbora/ floor drain with 100mm diameter outlet and GEBERIT HDPE pipe
for rain water drainage system.

5.0 FIRE FIGHTING INSTALLATION

The building designed to protect against fire by using the following facilities:
(a) Hose Reel System
 Hose reel system has been provided throughout the building in accordance to BS 5306 Part I.
 For each floor we have provided four hose reel 25mm diameter hose pipe, 30m long positioned
on common/lift lobby
 The system will be integrated with sprinkler pumping unit that will fed water into the system
network.

(b) Portable Fire Extinguishing System

 We specified 6kg bottle type portable fire extinguishers (carbon dioxide and dry powder)
positioned at each floor (8nos.)

(c) Wet/Dry Riser System

 We have designed two wet/Dry riser systems with two common supply pipe; each riser 100mm
diameter will have landing valve at every floor and flexible fire hosepipe of 65mm diameter and
30m long.
 The landing valves (2nos.) are positioned on common/lift lobby for each floor
 The four way breaching inlet shall be positioned at street/ground level in front of the building
which the fire brigade can pump water into the pipe in case the storage not enough.
 The system designed according to BS 5306 Part I and conforms to the requirement of the local
Fire and Rescue Commission.

(d) Wet Sprinkler System

 This is an automatic fire suppression system designed according to BS 5306 Part II and shall be
provided in the basement and podium floor car parking area, commercial areas and common
area like lift lobby for entire buildings.
 We designed a system in which a single sprinkler head covers a maximum floor area of 12m 2
and maximum distance between is 4m unless structural features obstruct e.g. beam and light
fittings.
 Each sprinkler is rated at 680C, thus when the temperature in a respective area reaches 570C
sprinkler discharges water to distinguish fire in respective area.
 Pipe size was calculated as per British Standard and code of practice.
 The system comprises of automatic sprinkler pumps, duty (electrical) and standby (diesel
engine) each with capacity of 300GPM – 80m and jockey pump with capacity of 12m3/hr – 80m
 Water for fire fighting system shall be taped from the dedicated firewater reservoir as part of
underground water storage tank.

6.0 LIFTS/ VERTICAL TRANPORTATIONS

 We have provided passengers lifts – 6nos. and cargo/service lifts – 2nos. for main building and
passenger lifts – 2nos for car parking wing for quick and convenient access from floor to floor
within the building.
 Those lifts shall be machine room-less with drive system of Variable voltage variable
frequencies (VVVF) with sleep mode option that consumes less electrical power.
 Main building passenger lifts are panoramic type tempered glazing each with capacity of 22
passengers - 1650kg, 14 stops at a speed of 2.5m/s as manufactured by Otis
  Main building service lifts are full concrete enclosures except access door each with capacity of
18 passengers - 1350kg, 14 stops at a speed of 1.75m/s as manufactured by Otis
 Car park building passenger lifts are full concrete enclosures except access door each with
capacity of 8 passengers - 630kg, 5 stops at a speed of 0.75m/s as manufactured by Otis

7.0 WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Waste management system has been considered in a manner that refuse from offices will be
collected at ever floor by mean of chute to garbage collection point at basement level, then collected
by municipal truck to final disposal point.

Reference:
The following reference have been utilized throughout the design
 BS 5720:1979 Mechanical ventilation and air conditioning in buildings
 CIBSE GUIDE “Flow of fluids in pipes and Ducts 1997”
 HVCA Specifications for Sheet Metal ducts work-DW/144.1998
 ASHRAE Fundamental Handbook 1985
 Approved document B, The Building Regulations 2000.