Building services engineering for Zurich and Switzerland

A building services engineer designs, sizes and coordinates the technical systems of a building — heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and plumbing, frequently extended to electrical services and building automation. The role runs from feasibility study through concept and detailed design and tendering to construction, commissioning and handover. In practice the engineer is the interface between client, architect and the installing contractors.

HLKS stands for Heizung, Lüftung, Klima, Sanitär — heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing, broadly equivalent to MEP in the UK. HLKKSE adds refrigeration as a separate discipline plus electrical services. Both describe the same field with a different scope: the more disciplines are designed and coordinated in one office, the fewer losses occur at the interfaces. 38 Grad Gebäudetechnik covers the full HLKKSE scope.

As early as possible — ideally during feasibility, before the layout, floor-to-floor heights and riser positions are fixed. Heat generation, ventilation routing and shaft locations largely determine what remains technically and commercially possible later. Retrofitting the services design is almost always more expensive than a proper concept stage.

The relevant document is SIA 108 «Regulations for services and fees of engineers in building services, mechanical and electrical engineering»; the current edition is SIA 108:2020. It defines the project phases — strategic planning, preliminary studies, design, tendering, realisation and operation — and the associated part-services. For construction works, SIA 118 governs the relationship with contractors.

Fees in Switzerland are normally derived from SIA 108 — either from the cost-determining construction value or from time actually spent at agreed hourly rates. The effort depends on building category, plant complexity, new build versus refurbishment and the scope you require. We quote after a short scoping conversation; a blanket percentage figure is misleading.

Our office is at Vorderdorfstrasse 7 in 5242 Birr. We work primarily across the Canton of Zurich — the city of Zurich, the Glattal valley, the district of Uster, Winterthur and the Zurich Oberland — and take on projects throughout German-speaking Switzerland. As part of the 38 Grad group we can draw on architectural, real-estate and legal expertise when a project requires it.

Yes. You can appoint us for single phases under SIA 108 — for example a feasibility study for a heating replacement, site supervision alone, or a condition survey. End-to-end appointment is often more economical because concept decisions and construction supervision sit in one hand, but we will tell you frankly what makes sense in your case.

Yes. We produce the building services discipline model in 3D with embedded data and federate it with the architectural and structural models. The governing framework today is the SN EN ISO 19650 series; the Swiss SIA 2051 bulletin was withdrawn at the end of 2024. The benefit for you: clashes are resolved on screen rather than on site.