INTERVIEW | PIERS HEATH Foster + Partners materials library at Battersea campus (above); China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen (right) Foster + Partners opens its doors A seminar and webinar on integrated design organised by the CIBSE ASHRAE Group is taking place at Foster + Partners from 6-7pm 18 September. The speakers are senior environmental engineer and partner Andy Jackson and architect and associate partner Matthew Heywood. More details at bit.ly/CJSep19Foster DIGITAL DESIGN The vast computational power now at the disposal of designers makes it possible to model much more realistic performance scenarios than Heath was able to with the hellishly inaccurate tools he used earlier in his career. However, accurate modelling still depends on designers understanding of buildings in use and the human factor, he adds. Foster + Partners is turning its buildings into a test bed for digital technology to better understand how buildings can be more attuned to end users needs. It is installing advanced controls and sensors, and incorporating mixedmode ventilation, to see if it can turn back systems and save energy. AI will reduce laborious tasks, says Heath, but he worries that commoditisation may take engineers away from the design interface. Design should be about thinking and collaboration with the help of quality tools. at schools. I like to encourage women in engineering because it helps us to see things from a broader perspective we get different solutions. For the same reason, I encourage a wide range of ages and experience. When Heath set up PHA, he asked Ed Garrod, 18 years his junior, to join him. I wanted someone young and dynamic, who understood the latest thinking and was motivated by design. I didnt want someone blinkered by what you can and cant achieve, he says. Garrod was one of the first to champion the wellbeing agenda, adds Heath, on projects such as the Samson Pavilion at Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. Now, says Heath, clients all over the world incorporate this as a specific requirement in their request for proposals. We are currently designing an HQ for China Merchants Bank in Shenzhen, and wellbeing is at the core of the brief. For example, they want operable windows even though the climate rarely favours such a strategy because they want staff to have connectivity with the outdoors and the psychological wellbeing that offers. All the engineering services design is done from London, where engineers have access to the resources at Foster + Partners Battersea campus. Here, there is a large materials library and numerous prototyping tools, such as 3D printers and CNC laser cutters. The international dimension to Foster + Partners work means it frequently deals with local engineers and designers. Often, projects involve only 50% design service, which makes it challenging to ensure the design intent is realised in the operation of the building. We may not have ultimate responsibility, but we want to be sure that what is built, commissioned and put into operation is as the design intent, says Heath. You cant walk away once a building is complete and working. We ask ourselves how the buildings will last, and whether they are adaptable, climatechange tolerant and good to use. A soft landings mechanism being developed by Heath for use in project agreements sits under Stage 7 of the RIBA Plan of Works and will include design reviews and post-occupancy evaluations (POEs). MEP engineers have always been sensitive around POE, he says, because performance gaps imply they havent delivered what they promised. We have to be bigger than that and, if we have to face the music, so be it, he adds. There are ongoing discussions within the practice about how to offer this for up to three years after completion, which would align with the Well Standard. Bill Bordass and the Probe studies (1995-99, and published in the forerunner to CIBSE Journal) left a lasting impression on Heath. I was fascinated by the difference between predictive and active. It gave me a better understanding of what a significant role dynamic modelling has on a buildings life. (See panel Digital design.) He is aware of Foster + Partners unique position to influence clients to choose a more sustainable approach to buildings and systems, and says glazing technology is reaching its limit of practical environmental performance. There is a greater burden of responsibility on how liberally we use [glass]. We need to be more considered, placing emphasis on exposure and orientation while delivering views and light, he says. Environmental engineering will have an increasingly prominent role as society responds to the climate emergency, says Heath, who tracks its growing influence from the 1990s, when the effects of CO2 on global warming entered public consciousness. Current awareness among the younger generation is now really driving the agenda, he adds. They are pushing society to ask more questions. Theres no way we can go back. The worlds woken up to the challenge, at last. CJ 42 September 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Sep19 pp40-42 Piers Heath.indd 42 23/08/2019 15:15