Adnan Syed

Adnan is an Principal Engineer in the London office with several years of experience in Decentralised Energy Design, Net Zero Carbon, and Building Services disciplines. He has worked in various sectors namely, Commercial, Residential, Public, Aviation and Education.

Currently he is working with various teams providing his expertise in district heating design, building services and building physics. Adnan is responsible for managing projects and design, resource planning, co-ordination, reviewing and delivering the projects as well as providing engineering support and mentoring to other disciplines and team members.

Relevant Projects

Eastcroft Heat Station Design – Nottingahm City (Lead Desinger and Project Manager)

Atkins have been appointment by FCC to estimate footprint of a new heat station within Nottingham city which will replace the existing ageing station. Existing heat station does not have hyadulic separation between Turbine and District heating network. The site has approximately 5000 residential properties and a number of commercial spaces. The new heat station will utlise the energy from waste and steam bleed from turbine with hydraulic seperation to serve the existing district heating network.

Adnan was the lead designer and project manager for this project where he liased with client to understand their requirement and scope. His role involved reviewing existing district heating infrastructure and energy consumption data to determine the size of heat sources. The heat sources considered were energy from waste heat, gas boiler, electric boilers and air source heat pump and thermal stores.

He worked closely with nuclear team in design of the steam heat exchangers and controls. Furthermore, he sized and selected the heat sources and looked at maintenance aspect to determine the size of the new heat station. He produced drawings, equipment schedule and schematic for the new heat station. The final proposal of the heat station includes 4No. Shell & Tube Steam Heat Exchangers (80MW), 2No. Gas fired boilers (20 MW each as back up), 3No. 100 m3 thermal stores and pump distribution system to the heat network.

Surrey Quays Station Extension– Lead Mechanical Engineer

Atkins was appointed by Morgin Sindhall to carry out GRIP 5 design for the new extension of surrey quays overground station. The extension includes new ticket hall, footbridge and BOH areas.

Adnan was the lead mechanical designer where he reviewed the GRIP 4 design and made Morgan Sindhall of any major issues. Then he liased with the architect, structural, and other other discipline to carry out the GRIP 5 HVAC design. He regularly attented internal and external meetings to discuss ongoing issues. He successfully presented his design infront of TFL and other stakeholders. Furthermore, he produced design drawings, specification, schedules, maintenance strategy, risk assessment and other document related to mechanical discipline.

Climate Neutral Innovation District (2023) – DHN route risk assessment (Lead Design Engineer)

Atkins was appointed by University of Strathclyde to build upon Heat vision 2030 district heating network (DHN) route plan and carry out a risk based route study that takes into account of existing and planned city development.

Adnan role was to identify risk and constraints associated with the proposed DHN route e.g. railway tunnels, canals. He further looked into GIS mapping of existing utility with proposed DHN route, identify potential locations for valve pits, building interfaces of planned development, wayleaves requirements.

Studdingsail Development

Atkins was appointed by KBS Maritime to carry out energy assessment for the proposed development of the Studdingsail redevelopment project in Portsmouth. The site had a maximum provision of 2,500 single living accommodation units and other MOD (Ministry of Defence) function areas such as offices, healthcare. Mess, Chaplin, across 6 new proposed blocks and the refurbishment of 2 existing blocks.

Adnan role was to develop an energy strategy and issue an energy statement which formed part of the planning application. This role involved study of different renewable and low carbon technologies like PV, Solar thermal, biomass, Air Source Heat Pump to determine optimum way of providing heat with respect to operating energy, cost, and carbon emission. Existing district heating network was evaluated to see viability in providing heat to the new development. Different energy supply method was discussed with client to determine the viability of Net Zero ambition. Furthermore, Adnan liased with different members of the team internally and externally to provide the deliverables required.

Adnan has worked on various projects related to low carbon heat design (e.g. Chilton Wood, Cherry Hinton and Airfield Wisely) and Adoption projects (Wembley park and Colindale Gardens). Below highlighted the typical work carried out in low carbon heat network design and adoption projects.

Chilton Woods – 4th Generation District Heating Scheme Design

Chilton Woods was a low-density development with 56 Flats, 894 Dwellings (950 homes) and 2500 m2 Commercial Chilton Woods, Sudbury (3.2MW peak heaing load). Adnan and his team were employed by Taylor Wimpey to provide a low carbon scheme design for district heating network and Energy Centre for the entire site using low carbon technologies e.g., Air source heat pumps, thermal stores.

Adnan developed the energy strategy and designed the district heating network. He carried out heat load calculation using Swedish/Danish method for the development and liased with team members for energy modelling of the network. Different low carbon technologies were investigated like air source heat pumps, hydrogen and biomass and an all electric solution was proposed. Adnan sized all the heat equipment and produced energy centre and pipework layout for the development.

Adnan liased with all the stakeholder to determine to the location of energy centre and routing of heat network. Plastic pipework and typical trench details were specified for the project.

Wembley Park Development – Adoption Project

Wembley Park is a high-density development comprising of 6000 flats and 74000 m2 commercial and retail units (18MW peak heating Load). Wembley Park is an adoption project where Metropolitan will take ownership of heating infrastructure after construction. This project involved multiple consultants and contractors employed by Quintain to carry out District heating network design.

Adnan had a diverse role in this project. He supervised and took responsibility for the design review of district heating system at all stage of the project from inception to commercial operation. He supported metropolitan commercial, project delivery and operation teams in management of clients and contractor relationship. He managed design approvals and handover/adoption for district heating assets. He reviewed the installed energy centre and gave recommendation for improvement.

Adnan carried out site inspections and liased with contractors to ensure it complies with Metropolitan requirement before handover, adoption, and operation. He interviewed different contractors for HIU installation within the retail’s units

Adnan has carried out decarbonisation studies for Wembley Park and reviewing latest low carbon technologies to replace existing heat generation equipment at the end of its life. He looked at different low carbon technologies like air/water source heat pumps, hydrogen, and electric boilers.

Adnan has worked on various projects within residential, commercial, aviation, defence sectors and education sectors for building services. Below highlighted the typical work carried out in design projects for different sectors.

Heathrow Terminal 2A, Fly Fit Fitness Studio Shell & Core

A shell & core project to convert an existing office to a fitness studio (approx. 350m2). The project involved upgrade and introduction of new MEP services and strip out existing office MEP services to Landlord’s infrastructure. The new fitness studio shell had showers, workout area, yoga studio and food/drink area.

Adnan was the project lead who produced fee proposal, project planning documents and MEP deliverables. He managed resources and delegated task to the team and coordinated with other disciplines inside the company. He produced detailed MEP design and control strategy which involved utilising heat from an existing district heating network. Furthermore, he collaborated with project manager, HAL engineers and contractor from concept to completion to ensure smooth delivery of project.

Heathrow Terminal 3, Travelex Shell & Core and Fit

A shell & core and fit out project to convert an existing space into Travelex VAT Reclaim. The project involves upgrade and introduction of new MEP services and strip out existing MEP services. Half of the building was glazed, and it was a challenge to calculate accurate cooling load and fit the mechanical plant.

Adnan was the project lead who produced fee proposal, project planning documents and MEP deliverables. He managed resources and delegated task to the team and coordinated with other disciplines inside the company. He produced detailed MEP design which included MVHR, VRF cooling and trench heaters. Furthermore, he developed the control strategy for the mechanical strategy.

Adnan collaborated with project manager, HAL engineers and contractor from concept to completion to ensure smooth delivery of project. He carried out non-intrusive survey and provided construction support. Furthermore, he witnessed commissioning on site and approved the installation.

Gatwick South Terminal, Eat Street Restaurant (430 m2)

A fit-out project which required connecting to existing Landlord MEP services to serve the EAT street restaurant.

Adnan was the lead MEP engineer who provided MEP design from RIBA stage 3 till tender and provided construction support until commissioning and handover. He liased with GAL engineers to determine existing services provided and carried out due diligence to ensure enough provisions were provided for the restaurant. He delegated task to team internally to produce tender drawings and produced project specification. This project was completed and handed over to client successfully.

St. Michael’s Rectory, Central London EC3 – Refurbishment of Existing Offices CAT A (500 m2)

A refurbishment of an existing four-storey building involving strip out of existing MEP services and introducing MEP new services for fit out offices by tenants. Adnan role was to provide detailed design from principal consultant performance specification. The project was carried out to CAT A requirements.

Adnan was successfully able to provide site support to the contractor and producing detailed design with the set timeframe. He was able to successfully deliver the project and hand it over to main client.

WeWorks Tower Bridge, Central London E1W – Refurbishment of Existing Offices CAT B

A refurbishment project involving strip out of existing services and introducing MEP new services to fit out offices for tenants. Adnan and his team were employed by contractor to review main consultant MEP scheme design and assist in further design to deliver the project based upon client’s specification.

Adnan carried out non-intrusive surveys and attended meeting with project managers to highlight issues and the outset. Furthermore, he provided detailed MEP design to the contractor and attended weekly meeting to ensure smooth delivery of project.

Wellington Barracks, Behind Buckingham Palace – Refurbishment of Existing Buildings

Refurbishment of three 4-Storey blocks within Wellington Barracks involving strip out of existing MEP services and introducing new MEP services to fulfil the performance specification. Adnan and his team were employed by contractor to review main consultant MEP design and assist in detailed design to deliver the project based upon client’s specification.

Adnan carried out non-intrusive surveys and attended meeting with project managers to highlight issues and the outset. Furthermore, he provided detailed MEP design to the contractor and attended weekly meeting to ensure smooth delivery of project.

Nike Factory Store – York (765 m2)

A refurbishment project which involved extending the existing Nike store to an existing retail space. Adnan and his team were employed to do performance specification and design.

Adnan was the lead engineer who carried out due diligence and produced MEP design for the project. He managed the project from concept to completion, attended meeting with the design team and provided construction support.

Burberry Harrods – Knightsbridge London

A refurbishment project which involved combining two retail units into Burberry. Adnan worked on this project from RIBA stage 3 till tender and provided construction support. He carried out thermal modelling on IESVE and produced detailed MEP design according to Harrods specification. He regularly attended project meetings with architects, project managers and client to ensure smooth delivery of project. He witnessed commissioning, reviewed contractor as built information and was successfully able to deliver the project.