MCW Consultants

IESVE software used for the design of major LEED projects

Overview
Canadian mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm MCW Consultants Ltd. has selected the IES <Virtual Environment> software for the design of major LEED projects, as part of its overall shift toward Building Information Modelling (BIM).

MCW Consultants has a successful history of providing new building design, building renewal design, new infrastructure design and infrastructure renewal design services. It has been providing sustainable buildings with the goal to permanently reduce its clients’ environmental footprint for over a decade.

With direct plug-ins to Autodesk® Revit® and Google SketchUp™, IES’ software tools were chosen because they provide MCW Consultants customized environmental performance analysis for fast,easy-to-implement, sustainable engineering and design. The company is currently using the software on the following projects

MCW Consultant Projects
OFFICE TOWER
A new 230,000 ft2 speculative office tower which is targeting LEED Gold certification. On this project, MCW Consultants is using IES to perform LEED energy modelling and evaluate design options. In the early stages, IES’ energy model was used to advise the architect on their envelope design based on energy consumption and peak loads. The same model is now being used to evaluate HVAC equipment. It will also be used for the LEED submission to the U.S. Green Building Council.

SENIOR CITIZENS FACILITY
A major renovation of an existing senior citizens facility. The building systems are being redesigned/upgraded to make the building at least 40 percent more energy-efficient than the Canadian Model National Energy Code for Buildings. MCW Consultants is using IES to size the equipment and evaluate the energy performance during the design stage. This building will feature many unique systems, including ground source heat pumps, heat recovery, superior building envelope components and low wattage lighting.

ANIMAL HOSPITAL
An education centre and animal hospital, which is an existing LEED Gold building. MCW Consultants has used IES to size equipment for energy retrofits and upgrades, such as a ground source heat exchanger and changes in building operation. The model  geometry was created in Revit and imported via gbXML.

Performance Analysis
“We selected IES as part of an overall shift toward Building Information Modelling (BIM),” said Brian Tysoe, M.Sc., LEED AP and Building Simulation Specialist for MCW Consultants. “The established methodology of performing manual takeoffs to do load calculations with one program, and energy modelling with another program is extremely time consuming and repetitive. IES allows us to use a common model for both of these tasks, and the interoperability of IES with SketchUp and Revit allows for a more iterative process, where we can get involved in design at an earlier stage of the project.”
MCW Consultants is using a range of IES VE-Pro solutions; including ApacheSim, ApacheLoads, ApacheHVAC, RadianceIES and MicroFlo. ApacheSim to perform hour-by-hour simulation; ApacheLoads to size equipment; ApacheHVAC to create detailed HVAC network models; RadianceIES to produce high quality, photorealistic images of the buildings and analyze daylight levels; MicroFlo to visualize air movement and temperature stratification; and Apache Constructions Database Manager to evaluate condensation in exterior wall constructions.

“Our <VE> software tools enable designers and engineers to customize their analysis, providing them with specific output to fit their needs and identify solutions for the questions they are investigating,” said Kevin Settlemyre, president of IES North America. “Combined with the integration directly with Revit and SketchUp, MCW Consultants is able to make and evaluate changes throughout the process. We are providing them with the tools to design high performance buildings in a shorter period of time, while assisting to facilitate an integrated design process and on into operations.”

Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) is an innovative company at the forefront of the use and development of powerful software simulation tools which help architects, engineers, facilities managers, and all those involved in the development and management of buildings design and maintain truly sustainable properties.