For Cost Control, Keep Watchful Eye Over Commercial Electrical Design Requirements When Building

Every commercial building has its own construction requirements, including electrical engineering design. It’s important to understand the needs of your commercial building before you start electrical designs.

Health & Safety

Commercial property owners need to be vigilant when planning electrical systems. Afterall, it’s the responsibility of the property owners to ensure the safety of their clients, staff, and the public. This includes:

• Making sure all office equipment and appliances such as computers, refrigerators, or mixers are PAT-tested
• Maintaining basic electrical safety practices in cabling and sockets
• Providing well-lit stairwells and lighting for dark areas to minimize injury and falls
• Installing lightning protection
• Installing and maintaining all safety systems such as fire alarms, sprinkler systems and smoke detectors
• Designing backup emergency lighting systems in case of power outages

Voltage

Determining your building’s voltage class requirements is yet another important area for consideration. The size of your commercial building’s voltage class will determine the specific voltages it will require.

For example, residential buildings may be fine with less than 100v. However, larger commercial buildings have much higher electrical requirements and usually call for a medium voltage class of around 20kV.

Energy Efficiency

Commercial electrical systems don’t necessarily equate to efficiency. Yet, improving the energy efficiency of electrical systems can make an installation safer.

Using LED lighting is a good example of this. LED lamps may not contain electrical components, so they won’t be susceptible to breaking like halogen, fluorescent or incandescent lamps. They also have a low chance of causing fire or burn accidents due to their lower heat footprint.

Surge Protection

NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturer Association, reports that about 60-80 percent of costly surges are caused by sources inside a building. These surges can damage a building’s electrical system and other electrical devises.

Electrical designs should include surge protection systems. These will eliminate or reduce electrical surges within a building. Additionally, they help prevent a power surge from damaging electrical equipment such as computers, lighting, wirings, etc. Most notably, surge protectors help reduce or eliminate costly downtime in a business due to power issues.

Security Systems

When it comes to commercial buildings, security systems are often at the top of the list when planning electrical. Technology such as electronic access systems, CCTV (closed circuit TV), and/or burglar alarms require a reliable power source and should be installed directly into a building’s electrical system. These systems can be upgraded into an existing system with dedicated circuits and wiring. Often, commercial backup generators can also be included in an electrical design to help power these systems in the event of a power outage.

When it comes to wireless security, it’s important to note that these systems are easier to bypass and especially unreliable when used in commercial buildings. To avoid any breach in security, these systems should be hand-wired into an electrical system by a licensed electrician.

Each community has its own rules and regulations for commercial construction. Qualified commercial electricians such as Benson Electrical Contracting (link to RFQ) offers free initial consulting services to help you avoid costly mistakes and verify the electrical needs of your property.