Duke University – Marine Laboratory Campus Chilled Water Upgrade
Duke University’s year-round Marine Laboratory Campus in Beaufort, N.C., is home to research, teaching, and student life facilities for the Nicholas School of the Environment. Precis was tasked with a chilled water upgrade for the campus. The project included the installation of a new air-cooled chiller to provide energy efficiency and support an existing geothermal heat pump system that was having difficulty maintaining temperature setpoints during warmer months.
The new chiller features enhanced corrosion protection to compensate for the corrosive coastal environment. It operates in a variable-primary arrangement for efficiency during warmer months; the geothermal system continues to provide service during cooler months. A direct bury piping network was used to back-feed existing campus buildings with chilled water. The project improved efficiency, supported a struggling but otherwise effective system, and brought chilled water to more buildings on campus.
DSM Biomedical – New Headquarters Building
Kensey Nash, acquired by DSM Biomedical, is a worldwide leader in the medical device industry known for novel product development and advanced technology in the field of biomaterials for vascular and embolic protection. The new headquarters building includes corporate offices, research and development laboratories, along with manufacturing and warehousing totaling 200,000 sf.
The project scope included programming, assistance with site selection and land development, site master planning, building design, construction administration, and furniture procurement for a phased project, constructed on a 23-acre greenfield site.
Design-Build Biomedical Manufacturing Facility
Precis worked as part of a design-build project team on the design of a 40,000-sf biomedical manufacturing facility related to the manufacture of human biologic products.
The design involved the build-out of an existing warehouse shell space. The scope included office, laboratory, manufacturing, and utility areas, including modular clean room construction. Full mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering design was included in the build-out with consideration for future expansion into adjacent warehouse space.
Eisai, Inc. – Biopharmaceutical Facility
Eisai, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory and infectious diseases.
Precis provided architectural and engineering services to facilitate the master plan, design, and two phases of construction. In Phase 1, 16,000 sf of the existing 40,000-sf building were renovated, providing administrative offices and research and development (R&D) laboratories. A second phase included full architecture and engineering services for a 19,400-sf building addition along with renovation of the building’s remaining 24,000 sf.
The program included research and development laboratories, a vivarium, a data center, and an employee lunchroom with the capability to convert to a corporate meeting room for 100 people. Infrastructure included a complete upgrade of existing lab HVAC and utility systems, and design of all new building utilities including high pressure steam, heating hot water, chilled water, preheat glycol water, and a new main electrical service.
Image © Don Pearse Photographers, Inc.
Terumo Medical Corporation – FemoSeal Cleanroom Renovation
Precis provided architecture and full mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services to facilitate interior renovations to provide production space for Terumo Medical Corporation’s FemoSealTM vascular closure system. Production operations for this product were being relocated to Elkton, Maryland, from Costa Rica.
The renovations included the addition of an ISO 8 assembly area, an ISO 8 gowning area, and an ISO 8 material airlock, a drying oven and final packaging area, a sterile prep area, siliconization washing, and an analytical lab. The project required strategic re-distribution and re-balancing of existing air-handling systems to maintain production in the adjacent manufacturing suites during construction.
New mechanical systems included a 37,000-CFM custom rooftop dunnage-mounted air-handling unit (AHU) with desiccant wheel dehumidification and associated air distribution to support the low humidity requirement of the manufacturing space, as well as new compressed air drying and heating equipment to support the device assembly process. The siliconization washing space also required a dedicated hazardous exhaust system with lower explosive limit (LEL) monitoring and in-duct sprinkler protection.
Temple Health System – Northeastern Hospital Renovation
This project entailed conversion of Northeastern Hospital from a full-service, inpatient hospital to an ambulatory care center. The renovation modified several areas into outpatient clinical space, including renovation and addition of the entry area to include an ADA accessible entrance vestibule, renovation of the emergency room into a combination cardiac/GI suite and a women’s health suite, renovation of existing office space into a pharmacy compounding area meeting current US Pharmacopeia 797 Pharmaceutical Compounding – Sterile Preparations requirements. The project also involved renovations to the pharmacy and office space HVAC systems adjacent to the new compounding suite.
Allergan – 4 Millennium Way
Precis provided architecture and engineering design services for a multipurpose facility for Allergan (now part of AbbVie), a pharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures medical devices and brand-name drugs. The facility was designed to support the manufacture of reconstructive tissue products for human health care.
The project involved the fit-out of an existing high-bay, shell building initially designed as a warehouse. The architecture and engineering design was competitively bid directly to the owner prior to development of a conceptual plan. The design team, working closely with the owner, developed a concept layout and basis of design, which were provided to construction management firms to secure bids. The conceptual design effort identified multiple design aspects that were not included in the originally requested facility design.
The project objective was to create new facility areas to consolidate existing operations for research and development (R&D) laboratories, warehouse operations, kitting operations, quality control inspection, office, cafeteria, and facilities support. The fit-out scope was limited to the east half of the 147,500-sf building, encompassing approximately 73,750 sf, with the remaining space designated for future expansion. A new second floor contains a 20,000-sf office space and a 14,000-sf mechanical space. The remaining 73,750 sf received minimal modifications to appropriately maintain the environment until the future buildout can be executed. Utility systems for the two halves of the building were originally designed to support both halves of the facility.
The building design is based on meeting the requirements to receive state funding under the local Economic Development Authority program and to meet minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Development (LEED) Silver Certification. Based on value engineering exercises and budgetary constraints, the building requirements were reduced to meet LEED Certified level.
Chester County Food Bank – Headquarters Renovation
Precis provided architecture and interior design services as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering design to renovate the Chester County Food Bank’s headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania. Inspired by the organization’s mission “to mobilize and educate the community to ensure access to nutritious and familiar food,” Precis developed a “farmhouse meets culinary garden” design concept.
Mindful of the client’s budget, the design concept was thoughtfully executed throughout the space. This included aspects like a green wall in the lobby, textural organic carpet tile, and natural wood highlighted by black accents. Precis also incorporated Chester County Food Bank’s colorful brand elements, captured by vibrant wall paints and inspirational art.
The mechanical design included the replacement of one packaged rooftop air handling unit serving the interior office spaces, a new rooftop exhaust fan serving the restrooms, and new ductwork distribution from three existing packaged rooftop air handling units serving a community room, the entrance lobby, and two large conference rooms. New terminal air devices were also specified for the new ceilings throughout.
The electrical scope of work included a new panelboard to isolate and serve office demand loads, including new plumbing and HVAC equipment. New wall- and floor-mounted devices were installed to support the furniture layout, and new LED light fixtures were installed throughout the ceiling to provide comfortable, uniform lighting within the new space. Additionally, a modular track lighting system was installed to allow for flexible accent lighting above the green wall and art pieces.
The plumbing scope of work included a restroom renovation with new lavatory sinks and water closets, a new bottle-fill station in the existing warehouse that was designed to provide employees with easily accessible drinking water, and a new kitchen sink and electric water cooler were designed to further upgrade the existing break room area.
Penn State – Bryce Jordan Center Chilled Water Plant Replacement
Precis was hired by Penn State to provide engineering design for the removal and replacement of two water-cooled chillers, cooling towers, associated pumps, and medium voltage switchgear at the end of life from Bryce Jordan Center, the university’s 15,000-seat multi-purpose arena.
The items were replaced with two new 700-ton, 316 stainless steel plate and frame heat exchangers. These were connected to the campus chilled water loop with flow meters and redundant campus and building pumps. The project included upgrade of all existing air-handling unit chilled water coil control valves with Belimo energy valves for improvement of system delta-T, as well as outside air flow monitoring for the arena air-handling units, and associated sequence-of-operations upgrades to allow for demand-controlled ventilation within the arena.
AmerisourceBergen – Warehouse/Distribution Center Campus
Precis designed an approximately 317,520-sf finished warehouse and pharmaceutical distribution center for AmerisourceBergen, contained within a larger 565,320-sf warehouse/distribution facility. The client distributes brand-name, generic, and over-the-counter pharmaceutical and home health products.
The finished portion of the facility is an air-conditioned warehouse and pharmaceutical distribution center with an office component, warehouse, distribution area, utility and support spaces, and tenant material handling equipment, all of which support the tenant’s operations. The remaining portion of the building shell space was later designed by Precis for another client.
The 42-foot high-bay warehouse and distribution center contains pharmaceutical finished products storage with capacity for order picking and packing and distribution of goods. The facility design incorporated automated storage and retrieval systems; 6,000-sf and 1,100-sf refrigerators, both with racking and conveyance systems; a 2,000-sf Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) validated vault and caged area for storing DEA controlled substances with racking and conveyance systems; emergency generator backup for the entire facility; and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for the site data center and server systems.
