MEP Engineering, Inc. served as the prime professional services provider on this major HVAC renovation project.  Originally constructed in 1971, the Main Wet/Dry Lab Building (S13) serves as the primary research facility on the UT Marine Science Institute campus.  The scope included installation of seven air handling units (60,900 CFM total), five laboratory exhaust fans (37,000 CFM total), three heating water boilers, two heating water pumps, two condenser water pumps, and three instantaneous, gas-fired domestic water heaters.  The chemical fume hood and laboratory exhaust system was completely reengineered into a manifolded system with airflow-tracking supply and exhaust valves to comply with NFPA 45.  The existing steam boiler system was replaced with a hydronic heating water design for easier maintenance and tighter temperature and humidity conditions.  New DDC controls were installed, along with a new central plant refrigeration exhaust system.  Construction was interrupted in late August 2017 by the nearby landfall of Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm.  MEP and the general contractor worked closely with UT for months to assist with campus restoration efforts, resulting in the additional replacement of two existing cooling towers.

Project Title:  Main Wet/Dry Laboratory HVAC Renewal

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  The University of Texas

Project Size:  48,020 SF

Total Project Cost:  $5,663,000

MEP Role:  Prime Consultant

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing

The Guenther & Son office, located off Broadway Street, is an iconic building in the city of San Antonio. Built in 1941 as a ButterKrust Bakery, the building was eventually converted to C.H. Guenther & Son’s corporate headquarters.  MEP Engineering, Inc., hired by RVK Architects, was tasked with assisting in the expansion of the data center.

MEP began by conducting an in-depth assessment of power and cooling systems, backup generation systems and data cabling, layout and infrastructure. Following the assessment, the replacement of the critical HVAC and UPS systems was phased, in order to keep the data center active during construction, as well as eliminate down time for multi-national corporation. High efficiency in-row DX cooling was utilized, in addition to cold aisle isolation. The existing perimeter cooling units were phased out and natural gas modular generators were added to power the data center during a central grid power failure.

MEP Engineering, Inc. conducted a future needs assessment and designed the data center to allow for approximately 10 years of growth through the use of modular HVAC and power systems.

Project Title:  C.H. Guenther & Son Data Center Expansion

Project Location:  San Antonio, Texas

Owner:  C.H. Guenther & Son

Project Size:  800 SF

Total Project Cost:  $1,400,000

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  RVK Architects

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing

MEP Engineering, Inc. was hired by the project architect, Fields & Associates Architects, to assist in the completion of two buildings: a warehouse and a departmental building for Eanes district operations staff. The entire project, in total, was comprised of 14,000 square feet of space. The elements include in MEP Engineer’s portion of the project were:

• A split DX system with a cooling size of 50-tons
• A gas furnace heating system with total 660 MBTUH
• Plumbing systems included domestic cold and hot water, sanitation and gas
• Electrical systems included classroom, LED common area lighting as well as lighting for the parking lot, and electrical power for both the security gate and security cameras

Project Title:  EISD Ops & Warehouse

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  Eanes Independence School District

Project Size:  14,000 SF

Total Project Cost:  —

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  Fields & Associates Architects

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

As part of the new central office for Boerne ISD, located at the existing Fabra Elementary School, MEP Engineering, Inc. began by conducted a future needs assessment. MEP then designed BISD’s new main data center to allow for approximately 15 years of growth through the use of in-row HVAC and power systems, for this quickly expanding district.

High efficiency in-row DX cooling was utilized in addition to cold aisle isolation and clean agent fire protection systems. A natural gas modular generator is utilized to power the data center during a central grid power failure. The data center room was designed for growth by allowing future space with server racks/cooling, power and aisle containment.

Project Title:  Boerne ISD Data Center

Project Location:  Boerne, Texas

Owner:  Boerne Independent School District

Project Size:  1,100 SF

Total Project Cost:  $1,500,000 (estimated)

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  OCO Architects & Pfluger Architects

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

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MEP Engineering, Inc. provided design and construction administration services for a new 35,000 square foot building, with 8,000 square foot mezzanine on the campus of the world-renowned Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

The MEP design included special electrical requirements, 10 different lab gasses including vacuum and lab air, fume hood / lab exhaust requirements and gas detection and alarm systems.  The building’s central plant included two 230-ton water-cooled chillers, cooling tower, seven MMBtu boiler, process water chiller, and a central compressed air system. Lab air was controlled by a Phoenix valve system and lab exhaust fans with specially coated, corrosion resistant exhaust duct.

Project Title:  Southwest Research Institute Building 264

Project Location:  San Antonio, Texas

Owner:  Southwest Research Institute

Project Size:  35,000 SF

Total Project Cost:  $7,800,000

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  Durand-Hollis Rupe Architects, Inc.

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

MEP Engineering, Inc. provided design and construction services for a four-story laboratory and office addition to an existing electronics research facility on the campus of the world-renowned Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The new addition included offices, electronics laboratories, Secret Compartmentalized Information Facility (SCIF) labs and support areas.

The HVAC scope included replacement of the existing central plant with a new plant to serve both the new addition and the existing building; the new plant included water cooled chillers and gas fired hot water boilers.

Project Title:  SwRI Building 168 Laboratory and Office Addition

Project Location:  San Antonio, Texas

Owner:  Southwest Research Institute

Project Size:  54,000 SF

Total Project Cost:  $11,000,000

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  DHR Architects

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

This new university science building, located on the campus of Texas A&M University Commerce in northeast Texas, features wet and dry-laboratory spaces suitable for both general teaching and research purposes. Additionally, this building includes an integral planetarium and full astronomy observatory housing multiple research grade optical telescopes.

M|E|P systems designed for this project include dual air-cooled chillers, dual hot water boilers, a fire pump, and a complete DDC building controls system. The building’s HVAC airside design features a variable-air-volume supply air system, and a variable-air-volume exhaust system serving chemical fume hoods throughout the laboratory spaces. DDC controls for the fume hood exhaust and supply air systems are integrated together to track and maintain proper building pressurization while allowing for improved energy efficiencies.

Project Title:  McFarland Science Building

Project Location:  Commerce, Texas

Owner:  Texas A&M University at Commerce

Project Size:  100,000 SF

Total Project Cost:  $21,000,000

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  Jennings-Hackler Partners

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

Originally opening in 1967, the Jackson Geological Sciences Building on the University of Texas Austin campus is home to one of the oldest geosciences departments in the country.  MEP Engineering, Inc. was hired by project architect, Parsons Environmental & Infrastructure Group, Inc., to provide design services to upgrade both the Flemings and Tisato labs, in a multi-phase project.

Phase I included:

• Wet and dry labs to support geosciences research
• Phoenix venturi exhaust and supply equipment for precise air change rates
• Analysis & workshop for preparation of geosciences samples

Phase II included:

• Cold room to maintain 4 degrees Celsius environment
• Cold room was specifically designed to store sensitive undersea core samples housed in pressurized storage vessels
• A methane detection and emergency exhaust system
• Primary and backup power provisions
• New dedicated process cooling systems including process cooling, heat exchangers and circulation pumps

Project Title:  Jackson Geological Building Flemings Lab & Tisato Lab Renovation

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  University of Texas at Austin

Project Size:  —

Total Project Cost:  —

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  Parsons Environmental & Infrastructure Group, Inc.

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

This project included the addition of two cold rooms to the Norman Hackerman building, which is located at the University of Texas in Austin. MEP Engineering, Inc. served in the role of prime consultant for this project. The Hackerman building houses both organic chemistry research labs and neuroscience research labs, a vivarium, and a host of other facilities. The cold labs were installed for the benefit of the Bio-sciences research department. MEP was tasked with designing the interior plumbing as well as the power in support of the cold rooms.

Project Title:  Norman Hackerman Cold Room Addition

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  The University of Texas at Austin

Project Size:  —

Total Project Cost:  —

MEP Role:  Subconsultant

Architect:  Taniguchi Architects

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering

MEP Engineering, Inc. served as the prime professional service provider on this project to replace four air handling units (230,100 CFM total), two building chilled water pumps, DDC controls, the main electrical service gear and primary transformers, and existing panelboards.  Additional scope of work included replacement of building laboratory exhaust fans (57,525 CFM total), new Phoenix lab controls, additional electrical capacity for select Level 5 and 6 laboratories, and improvements to the outside air system to correct negative building pressurization issues.

Originally constructed in 1967, Jackson Geological Sciences Building is home to the University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences.  MEP performed an initial facilities programming report to evaluate a number of options for upgrading the aging infrastructure.  Based on this study, it was determined that more than a direct replacement was needed to allow for future growth.  MEP developed an innovate redesign of the building HVAC and electrical systems, reconfiguring the gear layouts, and creating a new mezzanine level for installation of hot deck air handling units above the new cold deck air handling units.

Project Title:  Jackson Geological Building Lab Renovations

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  The University of Texas at Austin

Project Size:  152,000 SF

Total Project Cost:  $5,100,000

MEP Role:  Prime Consultant

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering