Curriculum Vitae

Name:	James R Culbertson (CEng, MCIBSE, MIET, MASHRAE)
Position:	Director / Lead M&E Engineer

Skills/Expertise:

James has over 15 years of multi discipline experience gained in the design, supervision and management of mechanical and electrical projects covering a diverse range of building types, construction methods and procurement styles within various sectors of the construction industry. He is university degree qualified in both electrical and mechanical engineering and has divided his experience equally over the years across both the electrical and mechanical fields of design and management.

James is a particularly strong innovator of mechanical and electrical services designs and solutions for individual projects and has previously modified some tried and tested mechanical solutions where they would not exactly suit a projects needs, to offer an appropriate hybrid solution which resulted in a balance between realistic energy goals, economic restraints, the need for correct levels of occupancy comfort, control and aesthetic balance. He has particular interest and very detailed experience in the design of systems with exactly tailored BEMS controls systems, the detailed design of mechanical air conditioning and comfort cooling systems to offer varying levels of temperature control and tightness of environmental control for given situations and budgets, specialist mechanical extraction systems, a detailed understanding of the effects of solar radiation upon given building structures and the use of energy efficient methods of heat reclamation within buildings.

Previous Experience:

Due to his dual qualifications, James has taken a Lead coordination role and has undertaken various office and site based roles where project parameters and site conditions were perceived to be very complex. Examples of such complex but successfully coordinated works are:

City Inn, Birmingham

This project was a new build (2001) 238 bedroom hotel. All rooms were provided with ISDN and Internet facilities, interactive TV and had comfort conditioning via ultra quiet fan coil units. James undertook to take possession of a largely uncoordinated services installation and fully re-design and coordinate on site the communal areas including restaurant, commercial kitchen, bar and conference facilities. This included the design of all specialist lighting with controls, supply/extract ventilation and smoke extract systems.

Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder

The lead coordinating design for the new build Baird House, a 60 Bedroom block where each suite includes an interactive control system via a common controller for comfort conditioning, living flame fire, lighting with 4 scene sets, interactive TV, motorised curtains/blinds and music system. The project included a very detailed plant area within tight roof spaces and the refurbishment of 6 meeting rooms inclusive of comfort conditioning and audiovisual equipment for state of the art conference functions.

Tiger Lily, Edinburgh

TKC undertook the full design of all electrical, mechanical, data services and hotel management systems within this central Edinburgh Listed building, which was converted from former offices into a boutique hotel boasting 25 individual rooms, 7 individual suites, bars, a restaurant and a nightclub. Our design duties included comfort cooling to all areas within the building, hot water generation to allow for the high demands for instantaneous water usage to all parts of the building, energy efficient automatic controls throughout, digital lighting controls, Wi-Fi data transfer and the integration of digital TV/Voice/Data across a common cabling platform. James undertook the role of Lead M&E design engineer and Client liaison director to provide the technical interfaces between the Design Team activities and the ‘Client Direct’ suppliers.