Dow Chemical Company – Project Ascend
The Dow Chemical Company relocated its entire Spring House Technical Center to Collegeville, Pennsylvania. The newly leased space comprised over 800,000 sf across five floors and five buildings. The Collegeville facility was extensively renovated to accommodate a phased relocation and seamless transition of users. Programming meetings and detailed surveys of the existing equipment and laboratories in Spring House were conducted in order to design the required modifications in Collegeville.
Precis served as the lead design professional for this multi-phased, multi-year project, which utilized a design-build approach to accommodate an aggressive, early-phase schedule. The project included the complete gut renovation of the 40,000-sf pilot plant. The pilot plant design included comprehensive architectural and engineering systems design of the waste consolidation, dispensing, pressure cells, carbon black lab, spray dryer, acrylates lab, performance monomers, and plastic additives labs.
Subsequent projects at the Collegeville facility included the complete retrofit of a 125,000-sf office and conference center building, a pharmaceutical coatings research and development (R+D) laboratory suite, a glass-blowing lab, and a flammable cylinder storage space.
The project was named the Best Design-Build Project of the Year in the General Building Contractors Association (GBCA) Construction Excellence Awards.
J.M. Huber Corporation – Miller Chemical Innovation Center
Precis provided architecture and full engineering services along with civil and structural engineering consultants to create a new state-of-the-art innovation center for J.M. Huber, a provider of industrial and consumer products.
The new, ground-up construction is the first phase of a master planning effort that involved a holistic campus concept redesign. The Miller Chemical Innovation Center will be home to three new research and development laboratories with innovative technology and equipment for the company’s fertilizer manufacturing business. In addition to labs, the center includes offices and conference rooms, an open kitchen and break area, soft seating and display areas for client interaction and company collaboration, a 1,150-sf greenhouse adjacent to an open working wet lab, and outdoor layout areas and workspaces. The building has a number of sustainable building elements such as natural daylighting, energy efficient fixtures and equipment, rain harvesting for plant irrigation, and a small green roof area. It also utilizes a number of green building products on the interior and exterior, including products manufactured by J.M. Huber.
University of the Sciences – Sciences and Technology Center Phase II
The University of the Sciences, now Saint Joseph’s University, developed its new Sciences and Technology Center (STC) to promote energy, water, and environmental efficiency. The new 57,000-sf, three-story building features innovative learning spaces and student lounge space with simulation labs, a clinical lab, mock patient exam rooms, and conference rooms.
Precis provided detailed mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering design and construction administration, utilizing BIM modeling and energy modeling. Precis worked with the university and architect to develop the most energy efficient envelope design with first cost and payback period evaluated. The building utilizes triple-glazed windows and natural lighting to reduce energy consumption. In addition, a 20,000-sf green roof absorbs nearly 15,000 gallons of water when fully saturated. All mechanical equipment selections were driven by energy efficiency, resulting in a 40 percent energy reduction. The building achieved 684 out of 926 possible points for a 74 percent score and 3 Green Globes rating.
Ambulatory Surgery Center
Precis provided architectural planning, design development, construction documentation, and construction administration services for the design of an 8,900-sf ambulatory surgery center. The project area was located on the ground floor shell space of a recently built three-story office building.
Arbutus Biopharma – North American R&D Headquarters
Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a publicly traded Canadian biopharmaceutical company. Arbutus relocated its North American research and development headquarters to a new facility in Warminster, Pennsylvania. The 30,000-sf facility includes office and lab spaces to accommodate the emerging biotech company’s expanding operations.
To help facilitate the new development, Precis provided mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services, working closely with the project team during the design/build and construction administration phases. The design included separate, but adjacent, chemistry and biology labs that allow the scientists to work closely together while maintaining necessary procedural separation. The biology labs were designed to Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) guidelines. Precis provided design for higher-capacity water, natural gas, and power utility services; new air-handling units, exhaust fans, hot water boilers, a data center unit, associated ductwork and piping distribution; a new emergency generator; lighting, power and data distribution, and fire alarm devices; centralized water purification, air compressor, and laboratory gas manifolds; and a sophisticated building automation system (BAS) to support the new laboratories and offices.
The team completed the construction under budget and on schedule in the Spring of 2017. The project won the 2017 Restoration/Renovation – Under $10 Million Construction Excellence Award from the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter.
Images © Halkin | Mason Photography
PennVet – Utility Master Planning
In an initial project, Precis developed a utility master plan for upgrade of the electrical service and power distribution system for the 700-acre School of Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center Campus, which is world renowned for its large-animal hospital and research centers. The master plan included options and conceptual design for replacement of the existing campus utility 34kV single circuit with two new redundant 34kV electrical service circuits to the campus from PECO, the local utility company. The plan outlined phased replacement of the existing 4,160-volt electrical distribution, which was then replaced and upgraded to 34kV with a new double-ended 34kV substation with automatic throw-over and a campus-wide 34kV loop. New site underground duct banks for the 34kV distribution were planned for and provided around the entire campus for existing and future connections to individual building substations and large loads. New site underground duct banks for the campus IT systems, including fiber optic trunks, were planned for and provided around the entire campus for existing and future connections to individual buildings and the main data center.
In a subsequent phase of work, Precis performed a complete facilities condition audit for all 45 campus buildings and provided a report compiling all building data, systems information, recommendations, and estimated costs for maintenance upgrades to help the school project maintenance spending over a 10-year period. Precis continues to provide the university with engineering services in support of equipment replacements and system upgrades identified in this report.
Most recently, Precis updated the utility master plan with an enhanced focus on mechanical, plumbing, and fire protection systems in support of, and to resolve, potential conflicts with several major new construction and renovation projects planned for campus.
Aerial photo © Halkin | Mason Photography
Piramal Pharma Solutions – Fill/Finish Manufacturing Facility Expansion
Piramal Pharma Solutions is a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Precis provided architecture, process architecture, and mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and process engineering design services for interior renovations and facility expansion of Piramal’s Lexington fill/finish manufacturing facility. Situated on a 12-acre site, the facility had sufficient land area to expand the existing building’s footprint and site features to meet the current need for expanded fill/finish capacity.
The 24,000-sf expansion included a Grade C fill/finish suite with associated Grade C support areas and Grade D equipment staging and clean-in-place (CIP) and sterilize-in-place (SIP) rooms. Renovations to the existing building included a 2,600-sf microbiology lab suite with CNC laboratory and support areas, Grade D gowning rooms, and a Grade C sterility testing room.
Additional support spaces included a new production staff office suite, new toilet areas, and upgrades to the existing unisex changing rooms. New mechanical equipment and building utilities were provided on a new mechanical mezzanine above the production area expansion, within the existing mechanical rooms, clean utility room, and outside adjacent to the building.
Additionally, Piramal requested the design of 12 new, temporary cold boxes and a connecting corridor as well as design for a new building connection from their existing building to the temporary cold box corridor.
Veltek – Aseptic Filling Operations + Lab Space
Precis provided full architectural and mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and process engineering design services for the multi-phase renovation and expansion of the existing Veltek facility in Exton, Pennsylvania. Veltek is a global manufacturer of clean room cleaning products.
Currently occupied primarily by laboratory and office space, the new facility is used to prepare chemicals that support multiple cleaning, sterilization, and disinfectant products. Phase 1 of the project included the addition of a new 15,000-sf ISO 5 clean room production area along with the construction of packaging, warehousing, H-3/H-4 high-hazard storage and analytical lab spaces.
The project included master planning the site for future expansion, and the evaluation and detailed design of complete architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems. Key components of the project include mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems distribution, including designing and locating rooftop mechanical air handling equipment, emergency generators, transformers, liquid nitrogen supply, and process gas systems, and design of process material handling systems.
Images © RVOiii Photography
Dow Chemical Company – Headquarters Relocation
This project relocated Dow Chemical Company’s Center City, Philadelphia, headquarters to the company’s Collegeville campus. The existing five-story, approximately 126,000-sf office building was renovated to maintain as much of the existing interior layout and infrastructure as possible. A primary design goal was the removal of perimeter offices to bring more natural daylight into the building interior. The renovations included complete finish and furniture replacements.
The program included interior renovations to the first through fifth floors, including all related structural and mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services. Mechanical upgrades included airflow re-distribution, comprehensive air balancing, new reheat coils throughout, and modification to the finned-tube radiation system for improvement of thermal comfort.
Renovated and enhanced spaces included new huddle rooms, video-conferencing areas, open collaboration spaces, a new health services suite, a video recording studio and editing suite, a customer innovation and presentation center, a large training and assembly space, a conference center, executive conference rooms and offices, expanded and renovated break rooms, and a kitchenette.
cGMP Warehouse
Precis provided full architecture, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and process engineering services for the multi-phase design and engineering of a new off-site cGMP warehouse and storage facility for a global contract research development and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) in New Jersey.
Supporting services for the client’s existing facility in a nearby town were also provided. The remaining shell space fit-out will include a new modular-construction drug product fill/finish suite, cell bank suite, product sample suite, and various cold storage amenities. The existing two-story 14,000-sf front office underwent minor renovations to accommodate a new workspace, which required a new 650-sf quality control (QC) laboratory.