Rules and Guidelines for Improving the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Coordination Process for Buildings

Abstract

The coordination of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems has become a major challenge for complex buildings and industrial plants. The coordination process involves locating equipment and routing connecting elements for each system to avoid physical interferences. For the past several years the MEP coordination has involved sequentially comparing and overlaying drawings from multiple trades, in which representatives from each MEP trade work together to detect, and eliminate spatial and functional interferences between MEP systems. This multidiscipline effort is time-consuming and expensive. With the recent development of Building Information Modeling (BIM) this process is now able to evolve with the software technology; however, the software technology available today is limited to performing geometric clash detection. Based on observational research, this paper recommends a process for performing MEP coordination and describes how rules and guidelines can improve the MEP coordination process in buildings using BIM software.