Introduction
This is a guide how to readily identify mechanical, electrical, and public health (MEP) services when using the BS EN ISO 19650-2 information container identification system for drawing numbers. In the UK, the following fields are used for information containers (refer to National Annex NA, Figure NA.1): Project – Originator – Zone – Level – Type – Role – Number. The last two fields identify the drawing specifically with the role representing the service type (mechanical, electrical, etc.) and the number being a unique sequential document reference consisting of four to six integer numeric digits.
Roles
The roles for MEP services are listed below, although “H” is rarely used for drawing identification.
- E – Electrical
- H – Heating and Ventilation
- M – Mechanical
- P – Public Health Engineer
The role field however does not identify the service (heating, ventilation, lighting, etc.). This can be resolved by including a reference to the “classification” of the service (see below) to aid identification by either adding a “service” field (Role – Service – Number) or prefixing the number field with numbers that represent the service element.
Classification
Classification systems are used in the construction industry to provide structure for categorizing and indexing systems element. Classification or classes have a hierarchy from system/element group followed by system subgroup and system description. Several classification systems existing including: Construction Indexing (CI/SfB); Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWS); New Rules of Measurement (NRM); and Unified Classification (Uniclass).
The UK government mandates that information classification for BIM projects must be defined in accordance with Uniclass 2015. However, employing the naming convention in the ‘optional’ classification field on a document introduces unnecessary complexity as the Uniclass numbers are not readily recognised and have long strings. Therefore, the CI/SfB in Table 1 “Elements” which has two group elements 5 and 6 for MEP Services, with element and sub element listings using a maximum of three digits and offer adequate detail for the optional classification field. For example, 5 representing ducted Services, with the subgroups 5.7 Ventilation Systems and 5.7.1 Central Ventilation.
So, with the optional classification used for service identification a ventilation system is identified by three digits 570. Alternatively, the number field could be prefixed with two digits 57.
The Uniclass information classification can still be used for other aspects on BIM projects such as the layer naming. Uniclass has been used since 1997, and Uniclass 2015 is highly detailed covering the whole lifecycle of buildings, landscape features, and infrastructure assets. Identification of MEP services can be found in the “Ss Systems” table numbers Ss50–Ss80. As an example, to identify kitchen extract ventilation, the code Ss_65_40_33_45 is used from the following hierarchy.
- Ss_65 Ventilation and air conditioning systems
- → Ss_65_40 Ventilation systems
- → Ss_65_40_33 General space ventilation systems
- → Ss_65_40_33_45 Kitchen extract ventilation systems
MEP Elements (CI/SfB)
The list of services from the Construction Indexing (CI/SfB) Table 1 Elements based on their function are listed below. There are two group elements 5 and 6, 5- Services, mainly piped, ducted and 6- Services mainly electrical. Elements are defined by a two digit format, and each has sub-elements to provide further definition using three digits. In drawing titles, a zero is suffixed to the primary service type to provide a consistent 3-digit numbering convention. That is, ventilation represented by 57 becomes 570.
- 5- Services mainly piped, ducted
- 50 Vacant
- 51 Vacant
- 52 Waste disposal, drainage
- 53 Hot and cold water (liquid supply)
- 54 Gases supply
- 55 Refrigeration (space cooling)
- 56 Space heating
- 57 Air conditioning, ventilation
- 58 Other piped, ducted services
- 59 Parts, accessories, etc.
- 6- Services mainly electrical
- 60 Vacant
- 61 Electrical supply
- 62 Power
- 63 Lighting
- 64 Communications
- 65 Vacant
- 66 Transport
- 67 Vacant
- 68 Security, control
- 69 Parts, accessories, etc.
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