Timothy and his colleagues automated these calculations themselves on the VIKTOR AI platform. After thorough review and testing, their apps are shared across Buro Happold’s US plumbing and fire protection practice, so one engineer’s work becomes the standard method in every US office. The apps take over the repetitive calculations, while the engineers remain responsible for checking and validating every result. Read how the team replaced scattered spreadsheets with one consistent method, and how they use the time they get back for better engineering judgement, coordination and mentoring junior engineers.
Sizing booster pumps, water heaters and fire pumps: each engineer their own way
Almost every Buro Happold project with plumbing scope needs a water supply, hot water and, in taller buildings, a domestic booster pump. Fire protection engineers have to decide early whether a building needs a fire pump or a secondary water supply. The same calculations came back on every project, yet each engineer sized these systems their own way. Location added another variable: each state, city or county follows its own edition of the International Plumbing Code (IPC) or a local plumbing code.
These calculations lived in Excel workbooks. Engineers converted fixture counts into a flow demand in gallons per minute (GPM), then looked up the matching pipe sizes on the Hunter curve in a separate document. The water heater workbook only covered gas and electric storage heaters, so any other type meant searching a manufacturer’s website. Sizing the booster pump, water mains and branch piping took at least four to eight hours per project, and water heater sizing another four to five.
"It was the Wild West. Some of us used the company workbook, others used methods from previous firms, others used manufacturer sizing methods. We were all over the map. So the goal was to be aligned on one approach."
Timothy Washington
Associate Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineer at Buro Happold
Automate plumbing and fire protection sizing with VIKTOR AI
Buro Happold's engineers have standardized and automated their calculations by building almost 50 apps on the VIKTOR AI platform. Three of them are currently verified and in use across the practice: sizing booster pumps and pipes, water heaters and fire pumps, and an app for pressure zoning is in review.
Size booster pumps and pipes in minutes
In Buro Happold’s booster pump sizing app, the engineer enters the project location, and the app fills in the codes that apply, such as the IPC 2018 and the Maryland Plumbing Code for a project in Baltimore. From the fixture counts, it calculates the flow demand and shows the table it used, so the engineer can check the value without opening the code. When there are no floor plans yet, the engineer can enter an assumed demand instead. The app then sizes the booster pump and water main, and exports a pipe sizing chart per pipe material that shows which sizes stay within the velocity and friction loss limits. Engineers use that chart to size the branch piping throughout the building, a step that used to need a separate document.
The whole sizing, which takes at least four to eight hours by hand, now takes minutes.
Size every type of water heater
In the water heater app, the engineer enters the location and occupancy type. The app takes the incoming groundwater temperature for that location from American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) climate data, instead of assuming 40°F everywhere. It then applies the demand and storage factors from the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) tables. Besides gas and electric storage heaters, engineers can now size tankless, heat pump and steam water heaters. Quality checks flag an undersized heater while the engineer works, so they can compare alternatives: in a plant room with little space, a smaller tank with a higher heating capacity can meet the same demand.
Water heater sizing used to take four to five hours per project. In the app, it takes minutes.
Generate a fire protection basis of design
For concept and schematic design, the engineer enters the occupancy type and the fire protection app classifies the hazard. It takes insurer requirements such as FM Global’s into account and sizes the fire pump and jockey pump. It also draws a riser diagram that updates when the number of floors or standpipes changes, and writes a report in Buro Happold’s own layout, based on an example report the team uploaded.
Because the app automates both the early fire protection decisions and the report, it saves a lot of time at the concept stage.
Scaling one standard across Buro Happold with VIKTOR AI
The three apps in this article are the first to be fully verified and published, but they are part of a much wider effort. Since February 2026, 47 developers at Buro Happold have built 50 apps across disciplines on the VIKTOR AI platform.
Buro Happold and VIKTOR AI run structured development cycles to turn individual apps into firm-wide standards. Each cycle has three sprints, and each sprint delivers one app. A pair of engineers build the app over two weeks. In the third week, two subject matter experts (senior members of the development team) test and validate the app. Only after they verify the app is it published to the library for internal use. This is the same maker-checker process the firm applies to design work.
"With anything we do, we always have a QA/QC process. So why not this?"
Timothy Washington
Associate Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineer at Buro Happold
Once published, an app is available to every engineer at Buro Happold. Since the team started presenting the apps internally, requests from colleagues to join have grown quickly, and 78 people now use the VIKTOR AI platform. Junior and graduate engineers take part in development and review, so the apps also help train the next generation.
What is VIKTOR AI?
VIKTOR AI is a platform that turns engineering challenges into verified solutions, safely and at scale. Engineers automate their engineering processes with apps, agents and workflows. Apps go live through controlled publishing with role-based access, and they run validated calculations that return the same result every time, so engineering firms can scale automation across teams while the engineer keeps the final say.
The result: early plumbing and fire protection decisions in one day instead of three
With apps on the VIKTOR AI platform, Buro Happold made all early plumbing and fire protection sizing decisions for a high-rise office project in one eight-hour day, where the usual workflow takes at least two to three days. Timothy used the booster pump, water heater and fire protection apps on this project, which had a tight schedule: about two weeks to deliver a report and design documentation.
"The time we saved, we used to put together a quality report and a quality design. It was probably one of the best schematic designs I've done, just because I saved time on the front-end repetitive tasks."
Timothy Washington
Associate Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineer at Buro Happold
Because the apps check codes, source tables and equipment sizes while the engineer works, issues surface before anything is exported. And with one method across Buro Happold's US offices, results look the same no matter who did the sizing.
The business case
Buro Happold's first three-app proof of concept on the VIKTOR AI platform projected about $233,000 in annual time savings for an investment of about $19,125. That is a payback period of two months and a first-year return on investment (ROI) above 1,100%. The apps that followed strengthened the case, with a projected annual benefit of about $78,750 for domestic water pump sizing and about $525,000 for hot water heater sizing, based on documented usage assumptions.
More time for engineering judgement and mentoring
AI supports Buro Happold's engineers instead of replacing them. An engineer still reviews and validates every result before it goes into a design. The hours saved go to work that needs engineering judgement, such as coordinating with the design team or choosing a water heater that fits a small plant room. Junior engineers still need to learn the fundamentals, assumptions and calculation methods behind every decision, and taking part in developing and reviewing the apps is part of that training.
What's next: connected engineering workflows across Buro Happold
Buro Happold's next step is to scale the apps across the practice and connect them into end-to-end engineering workflows. The plumbing and fire protection team plans six apps covering its standard plumbing and fire protection workflows, including a pressure zoning app that is now in review. Then the focus shifts from building to scaling: getting every engineer to use the apps, and improving them with the feedback that other offices are already sending in. Timothy is also working on broader apps that align workflows across all disciplines.
The bigger step is connecting the apps. The flow demand from the booster pump app also drives the water heater sizing, and the pump pressure sets the pressure zones in a high-rise. Linked into one workflow, an engineer enters the project data once and moves from fixture counts to pumps, water heaters and pressure zones. Timothy pictures these apps ready in every new project for every discipline, and the pipe sizing checks brought into design with VIKTOR AI in Revit.
"Our goal for any of these apps is: how can we get some time back, and focus on more critical engineering?"
Timothy Washington
Associate Plumbing and Fire Protection Engineer at Buro Happold
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