ENGINEER ROLE IN REAL ESTATE

Er. Hiren G. Desai

Dear friends,
Good evening to all of you,
Engineers role in Real Estate
As far as Engineers or their role and contribution is
concerned,
I am proud to say that scientists and engineers have not
left any stone unturned for the benefit of mankind in all
the areas of his life.
From Newton, Einstein,Marconi,Greham Bell, Wright
brothers, Gustaf Eiffel ,Our own Er Vishvessariya for
building Krishnarajsagar Dam across Kaveri river and
invention of Automated flood gates ,Our Metroman and
Civil Engineer, Shridharan, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs,
William Barker Structural Designer of Burj Duabi
The list is endless and continue to grow.

If we go by definition
A scientist always discover new things but an
engineer works out how this thing can be used it
practically to solve mans technical, social and
commercial problems
Whereas
'Real Estate' is
Property comprised of land and the buildings on it as well
as the natural resources of that land.
We are witnessing tremendous development in this field
in terms of size and extent in both horizontal and vertical
directions,
From the scattered up to ten story multi-storied
building to more than 20 story building in one
campus with double or triple basements.
Housing society containing 50 bungalows to large
township having more than 500 self-contained houses
with all ultra-modern infrastructure facilities.
Shopping center having 50 shops to large centrally airconditioned shopping mall containing thousand
outlets.
From General hospital building to multi-specialty
hospital having more than 500 beds with air
ambulance facility.

From Textile market to textile parks.

Private diamond factory to the Diamond Bourse
Complex having about 2 crore sq.ft. Construction
with all international level facilities.
These growth pattern has its own challenges which
requires multi-disciplinary engineering experts to
work in co-ordination and harmony to arrive at the best
solution.
So huge paradigm shift is required in our working style.
From merely 3 technical expertise i.e. Architect,
Structural Engineer and Civil Contractor, one has to have
more than 10 engineering experts on board before
commencement of the project depending upon the size of
the project.
This speaks volume of engineers responsibility and
contribution in any such development.
Starting from
Structural engineer
In addition to providing safety and stability for
structurally challenging large span and tall structures, he
also has to ensure the continued desirable performance
under worst loading condition by evolving innovative
structural systems. Which is only possible by optimally
blending architectural space and functional requirement
with structural form at conceptual level.

Geotechnical engineer
The role and contribution of Geotechnical engineer in
the current scenario has changed drastically from merely
providing only Safe Bearing Capacity to carry out in depth
soil-structural interaction to ensure desired performance
of sub-structure under any load condition generated due
to earthquake or thunderstorm or tsunami or flooding.
e.g. Burj Khalifa pile raft foundation system
Next comes the MEP Engineer:
Which includes
HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) is the
technology for indoor environmental comfort. Its goal is
to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air
quality. This can only be archived economically and
efficiently if planned at initial stage with the consultation
of other engineers.
Electrical Engineer:
His role is to provide electric power supply to all
envisaged utilities without any interruption and with full
safety. Here challenge is our ever growing demand of
electric power for various gadgets.

Plumbing and Sanitary Engineer

His role is to provide adequate and good quality water
supply and efficient disposal of waste water. Here the
challenge is deriving efficient network in mixed use
environment keeping in mind their hygiene and sanitary
requirements. Also challenge is short supply of clean
water and making reuse of the waste water in best
possible manner.
Today scientifically treated waste water is used even for
drinking purpose.
It also includes Rain water harvesting which is need of the
time and if properly engineered it can substantially
recharge our underground water reserve.
Fire and Safety Engineer
Latest two fire incidents in Surat have shown us the
importance of design and implementation of fire
engineering norms in building industry.
Facade Engineer:
As our continuous inclination towards the use of glass and
other materials on external surfaces of the building. He is
the person who evaluates its influence on indoor
environment quality and functionality, its correct
installation procedure, its safety under adverse
environment condition and most importantly its
maintenance.

Solar Engineer:
As day by day it becomes prudent to use Nonconventional energy, solar energy being the biggest
source. Its use has increased substantially in real estate
development. Still they are working hard to long way to
go to make it available at domestic level with full
efficiency and economic viability.
Landscape Engineer:
Landscape engineering' is the application of mathematics
and science to shape land and waterscapes.
It is an integral part of the process for creating pleasant,
functional, and structurally-sound outdoor spaces.
Open spaces and appealing landscapes not only enhance
property values, they build intrinsic environments for
communities and promote healthy living spaces for all.

Acoustic Engineer:
Due to the mix usage and reduction in thickness of the
exterior as well as interior walls, this engineering field is
slowly picking up to improve acoustic quality interior built
environment.
Last but not the least
Durability and Sustainability Engineer:
towards green building technology)

(Efforts

This engineering field guide us to construct the built

environment with the available resources in such a way
that not only it lasts long but utilizes the natural
resources in optimum manner to make us and our future
generation stay happily on this mother earth.
To end, I must say, to achieve a sustainable growth in real
estate we all have to understand importance and
relevance of all above engineering experts and should
involve them at the conceptual stage only to have best
possible development.
By doing so, one has to cry initially by paying for their
engineering services so as to have pleasant built
environment.
Rather than
Crying afterwards for entire life by paying ever increasing
EMI of maintenance and repair and at the same time
living in sub-standard built environment.
Future of Real Estate:
After lot of research and with their vast experience
renowned multi-disciplinary engineering firm ARUP has
projected the future of real estate in 2050
So we all should commit ourselves to put our best effort
to make this reality in India and be proud partner and
engineer.
THANK YOU.