Last month, this column acknowledged the fact that some projects do not have written Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) documents for the commissioning professional to reference.
HVAC systems provide comfort and quality air for patients, staff, and visitors in hospitals. Comfort is generally determined by temperature, humidity, and air speed.
While the latest surgical technologies lead the push for more OR suite square footage, they also contribute to ever-tighter ceiling space. Add updated requirements for IAQ and electricity, and any renovation team needs to sharpen its strategy in advance of this delicate operation.
This month’s Facility File is based on a project renovation of an 80,000-sq-ft existing commercial office building being renovated to an outpatient health care facility.
Continuing on from last month’s discussion encouraging design engineers to create their own automatic temperature control (ATC) system flow diagram and write their own sequence of operation, let me start with the importance of this responsibility.
There’s more room for mystery and surprise in the early phases, but retrofit projects still contain a unique advantage or two for the thoughtful engineer and owner.