Building services play a central role in contributing to the design of a building, not only in terms of overall strategies and standards to be achieved, but also in facade engineering, the weights, sizes and location of major plant and equipment, the position of vertical service risers, routes for the distribution of horizontal services, drainage, energy sources, sustainability and so on. This means that building services design must be integrated into the overall building design from a very early stage, particularly on complex building projects such as hospitals. Whist it is usual for a building design team to be led by an architect, on buildings with very complex building services requirements, a building services engineer might be appointed as the lead designer.
