Migrate from MEP to MEPIT

Ah, the details! Too often the details get lost in the big picture. Almost any homeowner, apartment deweller, hotel clerk and construction specialist will readily point to an example or two.

In this case, let's look at MEP, what is referred to in the construction and architecture field as Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing infrastructure. Whether we are talking about new construction or rennovation, care needs to be given to where the wires and cables and tubes and shafts will be placed.

All to often what is forgotten are basic end-user points such as telephone jacks, cable TV connecitons, stereo connections and ethernet connections. The end result is unslightly wires and cable running around the room for no reason other than this detail was not in anyone's scope of works.

Let's take a simple example. A few years ago I renovated by apartment. It was a total rennovation so we installed new electric cables, new hot water system, new gas lines, new floor beams. I remember all too well the master carpenter had to spend the better part of 3 or 4 days tracking down dry wood to use for the flooring beams. He insisted the wood be completely dry, for obvious reasons and it was hard to find a supplier. He was in his 60s He barked at the other much younger contractors and tradesmen whenever he felt the job should be done differently. I nicknamed him "Walrus." Thanks to him 10 years later my floors are nicely level.

Back to Basics

Looking at this simple diagram can you guess what's missing? Correct! Bravo! TV, Telephone, Ethernet, Stereo. These are all the things the occupant will need for day to day life and the first thing that will happen when the occupant moves in is a cable TV or telephone installer will need to run some cable around the walls. Of the occupant will be running down to the local electrical or building store to by some ethernet cable to run from the router to the printer (unless the person has gone completely wireless). Or the person will move in, setup the stereo (music is must for me) and have to figure out how best to hide the speaker cables.

Wouldn't it have been nifty is someone thought of that in advance?

Take more complex example. A new wing of a hospital is being built or renovated to accomodate medical technology. Someone has to think through all the implications and all the uses that will be required. Otherwise, the MRI will be plugged in but isolated technologically. Or the MRI will have its connection points, but when other equipment is introduced the hospital administrator will be calling IT companies to find some solutions to a problem that really might have been solved much earlier in the game.

It is with this in mind that I believe that MEP and IT need to be married. The result is MEPIT. And since I am a big fan of shortening, I would go with MEPI, which requires one less key stroke.

Wrapping it Up

MEPI includes that extra all important detail! As an aside, when I renovated the apartment I called in a couple of IT geeks and had them run telephone, ethernet and coaxial TV cable along the base of the walls before flooring and skirting was installed. I used CAT6 so I was prepared for the inevitable migration from CAT5 to CAT6. The great thing about CAT5and CAT6 is the RJ45 telephones fit in. So I don't need more than one type of jack. There was a great space at the bottom of the walls that made for a perfect channel. I ran the wires through plastic tubes so that if later I needed to pull one out or maybe push a new one through at least I'd have a possibility other than breaking chunks of plaster off the wall to get to a cable.

All the cables terminated nicely in an out of the way cabinet installed in our coat room. There I have a patchpanel and switch. All the jacks in the apartment are numbered and assigned to either telephone or comptuer.

What did I leave out? The stereo speaker cable! That's OK because my speakers are pretty near the stereo and the cable hides behind the stereo and TV rack. Also I left out the part about the mounting housing for the jacks. That's installed in the wall and I should have had different mounting boxes installed. What can I say! Nobody is perfect.

Michael Sonenshine is CEO of the Symfonie Group of Companies. Symfonie manages the Symfonie P2P lending business, Symfonie Angel Venture fund and Symfonie Consulting. He specialises in finance and corporate governance for companies with multinational operations. He serves as CFO of companies such as Skriply, BigTerra LSUU and York Lifestyle. Special thanks to Eva York, of York Design International for her input and for her persistent dedication to detail, design and elegance.