What Is M&E Engineering and What Does An M&E Contractor Do?

Mechanical and Electrical , M&E Contractor and Engineer (also known as a building service engineers) are terms bandied about by those in the industry but you may not know what M&E or an M&E contractor is or what they do. In this article will look at what M&E entails and how it can benefit your business.

What Is M&E Engineering?

Wikipedia defines M&E Engineering (Mechanical and Electrical Engineering) separately as Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. It’s important to note that these two disciplines usually work hand in hand.

Starting with Mechanical Engineering Wikipedia says "Mechanical engineering is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering branches. The mechanical engineering field requires an understanding of core areas including mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics, materials science, structural analysis, and electricity. In addition to these core principles, mechanical engineers use tools such as computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and product lifecycle management to design and analyze machinery, heating and cooling systems, and others. It is the branch of engineering that involves the design, production, and operation of machinery.”

Wikipedia defines Electrical engineering as “the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. Electrical engineering is now divided into a wide range of different fields. Many of these disciplines overlap with other engineering branches, spanning a huge number of specializations.”

M&E Contractor

M&E contractors take care of the mechanical and electrical systems within a building. Depending on their specialty M&E contractors can be involved in anything mechanical or electrical including your heating and ventilation system to your fire alarms, emergency lighting, plant and machinery, telecommunications, electrical equipment and control systems.

In the hospitality, retail and leisure industry where much of the work is large scale and sometimes covers multiple sites or projects it makes sense to use one company for all of your M&E engineering needs, rather than using multiple different contractors or sub contractors. Having one M&E engineering partner brings with it a host of benefits including:

Easier Co-ordination and Scheduling

Having a single point of contact can make a huge difference to how well your M&E project progresses. It’s always going to be easier if you only have to talk to one person overseeing the work rather than having to track down multiple people. An M&E contractor will take responsibility for all aspects of the work to be carried out. This means any questions you have can be dealt with through your point of contact (likely to be a project manager) and any issues can be quickly resolved.

Improved Communication

By working with one company who are taking responsibility for all aspects of your M&E work it’s far less likely that there will be miscommunication or misunderstandings. Having taken the time to identify your project requirements by gathering the information about the work that needs to be undertaken, they will understand what is required and how all the parts come together to ensure the work goes smoothly and with minimal disruption. Where M&E work is expected to be complex it’s vital that there are no communication issues and where issues do occur, they are rapidly resolved. In these circumstances communication is key.

M&E Expertise

By employing one M&E contractor you are benefiting from the specialist M&E expertise within that company. Your M&E contractor will fully understand what is required and will be able to provide the electricians, mechanical engineers and project manager who can cover all areas of the work to be carried out. Professional M&E contractors will also be fully aware of the latest industry standards and be able to act upon this. They will also be able to provide you with ongoing maintenance and carry out necessary repairs quickly and efficiently as they will have full knowledge of your systems no matter how big or complex they are.

Competency and Safety

Given the type of equipment an M&E contractor wotks with it’s vital that they are fully trained in order to avoid any accidents, serious injuries or death. Untrained individuals can be electrocuted, fall and cause other issues such as fires that may affect an entire building causing danger to many lives. According to the HSE website where electricity is involved “The law says you must take precautions against the risk of death or injury from electricity. Electrical equipment must be safe, and properly maintained. Only in exceptional circumstances should work be carried out on live systems, and then only by a competent authorised person.” A specialist M&E contractor should have the appropriate training for the equipment they are working with in order to avoid accidents. In the first instance you should look for NICEIC, Safe Contractor and Refcom approved contractor certification as a minimum.

Reliable Results

Equipment can be complex and require considerable expertise. With a professional M&E contractor who fully understands the equipment they are installing you can be assured of reliable results and know that your mechanical and electrical equipment will work as it should reliably.

More Efficient Working Practices

Where a project is relying on multiple companies to complete work they must rely on each other to keep to schedule otherwise different parts of a project can be impacted when work it is relying on is delayed. Where this happens projects can over run or go over budget. In some cases you may even find that companies blame each other for delays or mistakes or they may even become unavailable if delays impact their other scheduled contracts. Different companies may also have different working practices which may clash resulting in issues, downtime or project delays. One M&E company taking responsibility for the work will take into account what needs to be done to complete the project and they should have streamlined processes which allow them to carry out any work in an efficient and timely manner.

Cost Effective

It makes sense to plan a project in the most cost effective way. Having one company responsible for a project can lead to cost savings. When the same company prices the whole project they are more likely to try to offer the best pricing in order to be competitive. That’s not to say they will be the cheapest, cheap isn’t always the best option, but one company taking care of all aspects of a project can look to make cost savings through efficiency and by making sure that materials and labour costs are controlled.

Peace of Mind

For many companies peace of mind is a major consideration. Contracting with an M&E company for your M&E engineering requirements can not only save you time and money, it can also give you peace of mind. There’s likely to be less stress in knowing that your project manager has an overview of the whole project, fully understands what is required to get the project over the line on time and that scheduling and pricing are realistic and achievable. Based on this your project is therefore far more likely to go to plan, on time and on budget. 

Value Added Services

Your M&E contractor will also be able to offer you value added services based on your mechanical and electrical needs. For example M&E maintenance also known as Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) is a service which should always be considered in order to ensure the continued working of any critical work equipment. If you’re using the same M&E contractor who installed and configured your equipment to carry out your PPM they are more likely to be efficient and effective at maintaining it which in turn will result in cost savings in terms of extending the life of your systems.

Customised Service Packages

Similar to the value added services that an M&E contractor can bring, they can also offer more customised M&E services and contracts to their clients. A partnership with an M&E contractor allows a relationship to be built and services to be tailored specifically towards your business and its processes. As part of the partnership the M&E contractor will be able to offer the right expertise and advice moving forward to ensure the services offered are the best ones for the business in the short and long term.

Choosing the Right M&E Contractor

Clearly choosing the right M&E contractor is important to the success of your project and business. Here are a few of the things you should consider:

• Does the M&E contractor you are considering working with come recommended? Have they done a good job for another company that you know?
• Will they visit and speak to you about your project and provide a fully costed proposal and quotation?
• Do they belong to the appropriate specialist organisations?
• Do their credentials check out?

Synecore as Your M&E Contractor

Synecore are widely recognised M&E Contractors providing M&E engineering services including design, installation and commissioning of all mechanical, electrical and plumbing facilities from heating, ventilation and air conditioning to refrigeration and cold rooms, plumbing, emergency lighting and fire alarms.

Synecore has its own dedicated team of mechanical engineers, electricians and project managers who work together efficiently and effectively to design and optimise the positioning of all pipework, cabling, fittings and fixtures to ensure the most organised and effective structure. They will deliver the very best results on time without cutting any corners and will guarantee your project is a complete success.

Our project managers work closely with our clients, as a single point of contact, to discuss their requirements in detail.  You can ask any questions or raise any concerns throughout the work being carried out. Your project manager will attend all site meetings and will effectively manage the project, including:

• Planning and design
• Progress and communication onsite
• Handover
• Customer satisfaction

To support the mechanical engineers, electricians working on the project we also have a dedicated in-house team who source all of the materials and tools that will be required ensuring they are delivered to the site at the right time, allowing our engineers to concentrate on the job in hand.

Synecore have built up long term relationships with suppliers and as a consequence can source materials at discounted prices which are then passed onto the client.

Synecore M&E Services

Synecore M&E services include:

Electrical design and installation:

• Emergency lighting
• Fire and security systems
• Data cabling
• Lighting design and controls
• Power distribution

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning design and installation:

• Air conditioning VRV, VRF and split systems
• 7-year warranty on equipment by leading brands – Mitsubishi Electric, Daikin and Toshiba
• All installations comply with FGas regulations
• Concealed pipework
• Polished chrome or painted pipework

Plumbing and drainage:

• Boiler room plant design and installation
• Gas pipework distribution
• Hot water systems
• External water supply and drainage
• Washroom plumbing and drainage
• Chilled water supply system

Commercial refrigeration design and installation:

• Walk in cold rooms
• Blast chillers
• Central production facilities
• Refrigeration display units

Synecore are Nationwide M&E Contractors

Synecore provide M&E engineering solutions to clients across London, Kent and the UK. We undertake multiple projects across the country simultaneously supported by our in-house management and service team who are based in Kent. Synecore are able to accommodate numerous M&E engineering contracts across London, Kent and the UK simultaneously which is important to  leading hospitality, retail and leisure brands who may need national roll-out programmes for both new and established restaurant, hotel and retail clients for both air-side and high street developments.

Synecore also provide services for commercial and educational projects in Kent and London, including office developments, school buildings and university complexes, among others.

For more information about the type of projects we have completed, please see our case studies pages or visit our individual service pages:

• Electrical contracting
• Mechanical
• Air conditioning
• Refrigeration and cold rooms and
• MEP services

If you are a business, or a contractor looking for a reliable M&E contractor please contact our team or call us on 01795 509 509. We’ll talk you through your options and provide you with expert advice.