32 | SME News Q2 2023 Daring to be Different DARe-me Consulting Engineers Ltd (DARe-me) is an experienced and highly skilled team of mechanical, electrical, and sustainable engineers specialising in building services design. With both private and public sector capabilities, the firm operates a client centric approach ensuring every project is managed with the utmost attention to detail. We speak to Founder and Managing Director, David Ross to find out more in the wake of the company being recognised as Best Building Services Engineering Consultants 2023 – Glasgow. Providing expertise in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, public health engineering, net zero design, BMS, energy efficiency, building physics, BIM, CAD (computer aided design), and specialist drone services, DARe-me Consulting Engineers Ltd is a dedicated team of building services engineering consultants. Built on the ideals that design quality, technical excellence, and client relationships are at the core of every project it delivers, the committed team has worked on projects with a global reach, and the firm continues to develop a technical understanding of design services using the latest technologies and design software to drive the business into the future. The team of specialists have vast public and private sector capabilities, having worked on hotels, hospitals, schools, distilleries, residential properties, retail developments, and more throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK. As a direct result of this, DARe-me offers a wide range of design services, from feasibility studies and energy reports to fully designed MEP drawings and specification for installation and construction. Its specialist capabilities include combined heat and power (CHP), heat pump technology design, tri-generation plant, PSALI, lighting, day-lighting optimisation, natural hybrid ventilation and displacement ventilation, passive solar design, solar hot water systems, photovoltaics (PV), building integrated wind turbines, greywater/rainwater recovery systems, drone surveys, and inspections of wind turbines and solar farms. “We have the ability to model design proposals at any stage of a building’s design and encourage early engagement to allow us to fully model and design an optimal low energy solution as early in the building design as possible,” explains David Ross, the Founder and Managing Director of the company. “This allows us to fully assess energy savings and building running costs long before construction work begins. We also have inhouse expertise in building simulation for low energy projects.” David has more than 20 years’ worth of experience working in the building services industry with particular awareness of thermal/CFD modelling solutions, with a sound knowledge of low energy design, where possible, making the best use of natural ventilation/lighting strategies, coupled with renewable energy installations such as solar water heating and biomass. During this time, David has been involved in all aspects of building services engineering from initial design and feasibility to final commissioning and has worked on a wide range of engineering projects encompassing educational, healthcare, retail, industrial, and commercial based clients throughout the UK, Europe, CIS, and Middle East. Having worked on many landmark building projects for national clients and on local design-led projects, David has also gained valuable experience working within the design and build team of Scotland’s largest M&E Contractor. DARe-me’s client first approach has been built from an extensive history of working alongside some of the top architectural firms, cost and project management consultancies, contractors, and end-user developers throughout the UK and Europe. This, coupled with technical excellence and the firm’s holistic approach to engineering challenges, ensures that it is always at the forefront of everything it does. Despite this unique selling point, there are other things which help to firmly differentiate DARe-me within the sector and mark it out as the best choice for clients. With an expert survey and inspection division which specialises in drone surveying and 3D laser scanning, the firm provides professional and reliable drone inspection services for various buildings, surveying, conditioning reports, and construction work. Faster, safer, and more efficient inspections allow sites to operate during the process and laser surveys use high-tech laser scanner instruments to collect data points from a building or surface. The data gathered is a combination of millions of data points which are used to generate a 3D representation of the surveyed area. The interactive nature of these 3D point cloud images lets viewers explore the inside of a building, noting precise dimensional measurements when required. Throughout the construction process, these can be compared against the original design plans to monitor a project’s progress. These 3D images can also be exported for use in 3D CAD modelling or to create Revit models for BIM purposes. Users can accurately envisage what the completed project will look like and how it will operate. David tells us a little more about this process and the benefits. “Laser surveying is a quick and precise way to capture the internal details of a building in 3D,” he begins. “The data points gathered are combined to generate a dense point cloud image of the surveyed area. This can be exported for a wide range of applications including 3D CAD modelling and BIM.” Another way that DARe-me positions itself differently within the marketplace is with its emphasis on sustainability and its holistic approach to sustainable design. “I firmly believe that we have entered a phase in building service engineering where the spotlight is clearly on environmental issues and this focus is increasing,” he elaborates. “Matters like alternative energy sources and sustainability are now here and need to be embraced.” David is involved in projects utilising the use of ground source heating and cooling, wind generation, and biomass district heating solutions in intelligent buildings with intent to reduce global impact on carbon emissions arising from buildings. From the outset, David will work with the design team to generate the most effective solution and, by fully understanding the environmental design issues, architectural priorities, and engineering requirements of a project, he can advise on how to utilise this fully through the construction process.
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