Growth in 2017: New hires for all trades at DesignTech

Since the start of the year, we have been adding depth to the roster! In the first half of the year, our Leesburg, Virginia office added additional staff in the electrical and plumbing engineering departments. Ken Poulter and Jhonny Suarez Diaz have added a great amount of experience and training to the company as well as a great culture of excellence in their work. 

Ken has over 30 years of experience in the plumbing engineering field; including over 20 years as a studio director and/or plumbing department head. In addition to design expertise of sanitary, water, natural gas, and medical/compressed air systems, his experience has provided him with extensive multi-disciplinary exposure and building code knowledge. He serves with DesignTech as a plumbing designer, project manager, quality control resource, and business development team member. His responsibilities also include development of project specifications and construction administration.

Jhonny has fourteen years of experience in the Electrical Engineering field as both a master electrician and electrical engineer. His experience has provided him extensive knowledge of the National Electrical Code, electrical installations and maintenance, and project troubleshooting. In addition, he has specific experience with development and implementation of method of procedure (MOP) protocols, and assessment of mission-critical infrastructure systems for safeguarding data center uptime. His skills also include assessment of energy consumption for periodic efficiency figures (PUE) as well as whole project data. His responsibilities at DesignTech include building site visits, investigative reports, project engineering, construction administration, development of specifications, cost estimates, and lighting calculations.

Most recently, Ross Lynam has joined our Kensington, MD office as a mechanical engineer. Ross graduated this year from Penn. State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Ross has already worked on several projects in both the private and public sector and is poised to become a more independent project engineer with each project he has under his belt.

Read more about Ross, Jhonny, and Ken by clicking on their photos below!

Jhonny Suarez-Diaz - Electrical Engineer

Ross Lynam - Mechanical Engineer

Ken Poulter - Plumbing Engineer

AIA Continuing Education: DesignTech now offering accredited courses!

For the last few years, DesignTech has been providing architects with informal continuing education topics including Variable Refrigeration Flow (VRF), HVAC 101, and a guide to DCRA Energy Verification Sheets. In an effort to further reward our AIA member attendees, we are pleased to announce that as of early this year, DesignTech has become an official American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System (AIA CES) Provider! We are now approved to develop curriculum and present face-to-face in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC!

Thus far, the focus of what we can offer has been on our experience and solutions to common challenges faced by architectural/engineering teams. Specifically, we have developed our first course, offering "20 Products to get you out of a Bind”. This presentation is designated as a part of the health, safety, and wellness category (HSW) of continuing education; which in this case means a high focus on the deliverable to the client. The most common of these design challenges include:

• Spatial constraints
• Aesthetic functionality
• Code requirements
• Budgetary restrictions
• Acoustic requirements
• Thermal comfort
• A/E team coordination

One product in the presentation is a cable operated manual volume damper. This product, specified by the mechanical engineer, provides the ability for proper air balancing at air devices installed in gypsum board ceilings without a need for a costly/unattractive access door. Below is an excerpt from our presentation:

In presenting each of the other 19 challenges, we explain how the standard Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing design products could fail to achieve the desired performance standard. We also detail how the solution product addresses each of these shortfalls. Finally, we provide a case study from work that DesignTech has completed where the product was used. 

We have been fortunate to present this to six architecture firms over lunch and are still interested in sharing this information with more people! If you are interested in this presentation, and would like us to come over to your office, please reach out to us!  You can contact our business development manager Kim Dize through email at kdize@designtecheng.com to schedule a date! We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Help us continue to make the built world better!

NAIOP Northern VA: And the Winners Are...

Earlier this month, DesignTech attended the NAIOP awards gala for the Northern Virginia chapter! Principals Tom Igo and Matt Bowers attended on behalf of DesignTech at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA. Though MEP engineering consultants are not recognized as winners, many DesignTech clients, both architects and contractors, are often winners. Last year, Architecture Incorporated won the award of excellence for their interiors retail design of the Tower Club; a project in which DesignTech provided MEP services. This year there were three Designtech 2016 clients who won awards! Though they were not on DesignTech projects, we are thrilled to congratulate Form Architects, Architecture Incorporated, and Collective Architecture for their wins! We are privileged to work with design firms who do such excellent work!

Pictured below is Matt and Tom at the event with the Balfour Beatty team in attendance .