Plumbing careers in the design sector
No-one can under estimate the importance of having a well-trained plumbing engineering sector, but when put to the test around the world, it appears very disjointed with little, if any, in the way of global co-operation, reciprocity of qualifications and a lack of forward planning.
Industry training is an issue that World Plumbing Review is very committed to, as we are concerned by the lack of any formal process to assess, let alone solve, issues of insufficient qualified and competent plumbing engineers/designers to serve the growing needs of industry, government and the public the world over.
It is obvious that even in the most developed of countries, the industry is struggling to attract, let alone properly educate/train, enough students.
The fact that the general public doesn’t readily understand what a plumbing engineer/designer does makes it more difficult to attract students to the sector.
In this first report we decided to interview some up and coming plumbing engineers from various parts of the world to compare the different ways in which they made a start in this industry.
We have some wrap-up comments at the end of this article that are important for you to read and act upon.
Engineering in the family
Based in Beijing, China, Yi Jing Zhang is regarded as a high achiever. She is one of a growing number of female plumbing designers.
In fact, in her office of more than 1,000 people, more than half are women.
Zhang thrives on the challenge that plumbing design engineering brings, and from an early age she was destined to be involved in the engineering field in some way.
“My mother is a civil engineer and my father works as a mechanical engineer,” she says. “I also have a sister who is majoring in architecture. People joke that my family can virtually build a city between them.”
Zhang says entering a plumbing design career in China is quite specific. After completing 12 years of junior and senior schooling, she enrolled in a civil and industrial engineering degree course at Harbin University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in China’s north-east.
“I was 22 when I completed my degree and returned to Beijing to accept a job at the Institute of Project Planning and Research (IPPR), which provides design and consulting services for government facilities all over China. These include hospitals, schools, administrative, buildings, factories and hotels.”
Most Chinese design professionals are committed to their employers, and Zhang has been with IPPR for a decade. In that time she has worked her way up to more senior tasks. A recent highlight of her career was being asked to design the services for China’s first biologically safe infectious diseases facility, designed to BSL-4 Standard.
To ensure the plan met ‘world best practice’ standards, Zhang visited a similar facility in Geelong, Australia, before completing her design.
IPPR is committed to sustainable development in all its projects, and Zhang is a team member working on an enormous project at Dalian that covers 26km² (10 square miles). Dalian is the main port for China’s north-east and is a magnet for foreign investors.
“I’m responsible for the water supply and drainage design tasks, including all the design of water supply engineering, drainage engineering, mid-water engineering and rainfall water engineering.
“We plan to build a new water supply factory with a capacity of 140,000m3 (37 million gallons). There are also three sewage treatment plants in this project to deal with 100,000m3 (26 million gallons), 42,000m3 (11 million gallons) and 36,000m3 (9.5 million gallons) of waste. After treatment, the water can be used on plants, to wash cars, for cooling applications in the industrial area, and so on.
Active involvement
Zhang is actively involved in her industry well beyond the drawing board and computer. She is a member of the water supply and drainage sub-committee of the China Civil Engineer Association. The 10-person committee is drafting a national Standard for hydrant systems.
“I am also interested in studying more about the requirements for biological facilities, as more of these types of projects will be required as China develops.”
Senior plumbing design engineers like Zhang are well rewarded for their skills.
Zhang says: ”I enjoy the challenge of achieving the best possible outcomes for my many projects, knowing that sustainable building practice is the only way ahead.”
Practically proven
Göran Hoffsten is a plumbing engineer with NVS in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Ten years ago, when he finished his military national service, he didn’t know what kind of work to do.
“In high school my studies had an emphasis on the economy, but I wasn’t particularly keen on continuing in that direction,” Hoffsten says. “My father is a baker, but that profession doesn’t interest me.”
Through a friend’s father he got in contact, almost by accident, with Installatörernas Utbildningscentrum, an institute that had started a post-secondary course in installation – Kvalificerad Yrkesutbildning (qualified vocational training). “I got some information and was summoned to an interview. I passed the interview and started my education in October 1997.”
The installation course lasted 100 weeks, of which 33 weeks involved practical experience at different plants and offices. The practical period featured pipe fitting, calculation, construction and contract work, followed by a thesis.
“This education is adapted to work experience and aims at gaining good contacts with the companies in order to get employment,” Hoffsten says.
In his thesis he worked with a building package from beginning to end. It included everything from calculating the work and giving an estimate, to drawing up and constructing a plan for quality and environmental considerations.
“It was very educational to be given the chance to work with a building package from start to end. This was something I have great use for in my work at NVS, where I am a project leader and responsible for managing the work and cooperation between buyer and sub-contractors.”
On completing his studies Hoffsten applied for a position at NVS, where he had done some of his work experience. The company has nationwide coverage, with about 2200 employees. The business includes installation in heating, plumbing, sprinkler systems, cooling and ventilation, as well as service and maintenance.
“I began my work at NVS in January 2000 with calculating jobs, which is a very good starting job. If you start by following the pipes in a building you learn how it is built up.”
It took him only two years to attain his goal of being a project leader, a position that means economic responsibility and demands leadership skills.
“Right now I am working as a project leader for repairing and turning an old castle into a luxury golf club with a pool area and a five-star restaurant. This is a varied job with many development possibilities.”
Water-wise by the Great Lakes
Bruce Weiss has been a plumbing engineer for a relatively short time – but not by choice. Disruption due to industry downturns and limited opportunities had threatened to stall a promising career.
However, Weiss has made up for lost time by steadily climbing the corporate ladder once he secured full-time employment.
“I’ve heard a description that ‘water is the new oil’, which shows a new level of reliance on plumbing engineers to deliver the best outcomes for water usage on our projects,” he says. “So I take my work seriously.”
Weiss, who works for OWP/P in Chicago (a full-service architectural/engineering firm in mechanical, electrical, plumbing), conducts his demanding career while juggling a family – wife and two-year-old daughter – and a love for sailing.
After graduating from college with a degree in industrial design, Weiss landed a job with a small swimming pool design company.
“That was my introduction to water,” he says. “I was doing a lot of drafting work at the time, which was OK, but I really wanted to develop my engineering capabilities.”
Weiss was lured from that job to another, this time working with plumbing engineers, and was chosen because of his ‘water’ background. He worked there for two years then moved to a firm with bigger projects. He loved the job, but unfortunately the business didn’t survive. Weiss’s career went into hibernation for several years, during which he took several different jobs, none of them really related to plumbing engineering.
“I always tried to keep in touch with the industry by taking as much part-time drafting work as I could manage,” Weiss says.
“The part-time work led to a full-time position in a small engineering firm. The firm was too small to offer any growth opportunities. What it did do was lead to another job that did develop my engineering skills and exposure to the industry.
“After that, things really started to take off.
“I discovered that I was a fast learner and good at getting ideas onto paper. I’d been taking courses offered by the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) courses to improve my knowledge and skills and was on the local ASPE board. The increased knowledge and industry exposure really opened doors for me.”
Weiss accepted the task of organizing ASPE’s annual product show in Chicago with 90–100 booths and about 60 affiliates. Most conferences attracted between 500–800 members.
“At present I’m a project engineer – plumbing resource coordinator. Essentially, I manage the plumbing components of any jobs our firm handles. And because we are a full-service firm – architects and engineers – there’s plenty of work and lots of responsibility. I’m constantly being sought for advice on any project that has a plumbing component. I like the way my role interacts with architects, and I really enjoy seeing drawings come to life in construction.
“I tell my associates that every line we draw on paper represents something tangible – every line drawn is a line of piping that equals money, an investment someone is making. I like that feeling.”
Weiss works on many projects but specializes in health care (hospitals), education, commercial projects and community centers, focusing on plumbing, fire protection and medical gas piping.
He says the industry needs leaders because plumbing is now a very technical profession. Whereas it was often an afterthought in many building constructions, it is now gaining more importance.
But he believes the industry is starved for talent because it is not attracting enough bright people.
I don’t know many people who set out to be plumbing engineers. Most people I know just kind of fell into it.
“I suppose I echo the sentiments of a few of my plumbing engineering counterparts who say ‘I don’t know what I want to do in life, but until I decide, this isn’t such a bad place to be’.”
From part- time to expert
Upholding his company’s vision is a daily ritual for Gavin Pereira, principal associate of the Wet Services Division at WSP in South Africa.
That vision means instilling in clients the confidence that WSP will provide solutions of the very highest quality.
Despite falling into his career by accident and with no formal training, Gavin is one of the foremost authorities in his field in South Africa.
“In 1986, while studying architecture at Intec College, I could not find any employment to complete my in-service training,” he says.
“It was then that an architect friend introduced me to Steve Franklin, a well-known engineer in wet services who was looking for a part-time assistant.
“From the start Steve and I connected really well, and after six months he employed me on a permanent basis. We’ve been together since.”
Franklin was often out of town, leaving the young Pereira to his own devices, so he learned his trade by being thrown into the deep end.
Pereira says the wet service engineering industry has grown tremendously in the past 20 years, and its future is looking very bright in South Africa.
“When I started, architects controlled the wet service aspect of a building, and we had to infiltrate and provide the service.”
The one gripe Pereira has with the authorities in South Africa is that there are no formal courses for sanitary engineering at any educational institution.
He also objects to the trend of the lowest tender getting the job.
“In Europe factors other than price are taken into account, and informed decisions are made.”
However, he is extremely positive about the state of sanitary engineering – a booming industry in South Africa. He believes this to be partly related to hosting the soccer 2010 World Cup, but mainly due to the country’s rapid development.
“I would say we are up to First World standards.”
Pereira rates the job on the Montecasino Complex in Johannesburg as the most memorable and challenging of his 20 years in the business, purely because it was fast-tracked.
He believes plumber registration can only be good for the industry in South Africa, as it will phase out ‘bakkie’ (unqualified) plumbers and increase general standards.
Pereira is married to Kathy – “a wonderful woman” – and they have a nine-year-old daughter, Julia.
He spends much of his spare time cycling and has completed several South African races, including the Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town and the 94.7 in Johannesburg.
“I am in training to compete in the 2008 Iron Man,” he says.
Where to from here?
As can be seen from these few examples, the motivation and ways that students enter the plumbing engineering/design field in most countries is not highly formalized.
Even in some countries where you would expect the industry to have strong historic ties to the education system, it doesn’t.
For example, United Kingdom colleges and universities ceased offering a public health engineering course some 15 years ago, due to falling demand, which means today there are no young engineers in the pipeline.
This is a reminder of how closely linked the industry is to the level of activity in the construction market.
The UK Society of Public Health Engineers (SoPHE) is now working to establish a new degree course at an appropriate university.
To serve the vast expanse of Australia, the Trades and Technicians Skills Institute, Yeronga campus of TAFE in Brisbane, Queensland, now offers a Diploma in Plumbing Services. This program has been developed as a distance learning course, which can be accessed over the Internet by students up to 5,000km away on the west coast.
In time it is hoped that this distance learning course will also be accessed by students in New Zealand, South Africa and beyond, where there is no existing training opportunity.
Naturally, such courses need to be accredited and recognized by government and industry in the student’s country of residence, to be of full value.
No doubt it is even more challenging for those trying to create a design industry in developing countries – aside from perhaps China and India, which are committed to produce growing numbers of engineering graduates. The task there is to convince students that plumbing engineering is a better choice than IT or other options.
Our thanks go to Rory Macnamara, Samesh Mohanlall, Charlotte Steen, Lars Roselius and Lily Lee for their assistance with this article’s interviews.