The Scripps Research Institute Laboratory Buildings 3030 & 3040 Renovations

Mechanical Construction: HVAC, Design/Build & BIM Services

VALUE DELIVERED

Enhanced research capabilities; improved productivity; high quality building air and comfort; space-saving HVAC designs; smooth project coordination.

MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION OBJECTIVES

Perform mechanical systems renovations/retrofits to support expansion of key biological research labs.

MECHANICAL SERVICES & BIM SOLUTIONS

UMEC (CA) was chosen to plan and complete the full scope of the mechanical services work needed for the renovation of two three-story, type-4 research labs and vivariums.

UMEC (CA)’s expertise in 3-D CAD/BIM (Building Information Modeling) expedited the solution to one of the project’s greatest challenges — attaching extensive mechanical/plumbing systems to the buildings’ wood truss structural system within the confines of an extremely small ceiling space. Using its 3-D CAD/BIM technology, the company’s design/build and mechanical construction teams modeled the project on PCs. They then used this model to identify and resolve potential system collisions before they occurred, thus eliminating costly change orders. In addition, this project management approach enabled the company to coordinate its work efficiently with that of other contractors, maximizing on-site productivity.

During the mechanical construction process, UMEC (CA) used its depth of experience and extensive resources to help it complete the work successfully. For the new labs’ HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems, UMEC (CA) HVAC technicians installed:

• Two 350-ton chillers
• A 700-ton cooling tower
• Two 4,600-mbh boilers
• Three steam boilers
• 19 pumps (for heating hot water, chilled water, and cold domestic water)
• Seven air handlers (with a total coverage of 219,000 cfm)
• 19 strobic exhaust fans (totaling 240,000 cfm)
• 44 fan coil units
• 172 reheat coils
• 83 phoenix boxes
• 135,000 pounds of HVAC ductwork

In addition, the project involved a substantial amount of plumbing work, including the installation of two 136-mbh domestic hot water heaters, a 627-mbh industrial hot water heater, a 15-hp duplex lab air compressor, and a 10-hp duplex lab vacuum pump. The UMEC (CA) team also put in 643 lab outlets for the compressed air, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, and vacuum delivery systems, as well as 248 plumbing fixtures.

FACILITY BACKGROUND

The Scripps Research Institute is one of the country’s largest private, non-profit, research organizations, and among a handful of research centers investigating the basic structure and design of biological molecules. It is internationally recognized for basic research into immunology, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, virology, synthetic vaccine development, neurosciences, and other fields.