The Bob Roberts building is a 2-story former hospital building that contains primarily office spaces. MEPIS was commissioned to provide design services to reconfigure and replace the existing 11,500 CFM roof mounted Rotunda Air Handling Unit (AHU) and return fan. The AHU serves the 1st and 2nd floors of the Rotunda which is approximately 4,300 sq./ft. of primarily open office space with 3 offices. The existing AHU was original to the building and served its 40-year useful life. The AHU was in poor condition and required a substantial amount of maintenance and resources to keep it operational. The owner requested three options for the design and bid documents for the new Air Handling Unit based on DX, chilled water and hot water systems. In addition, the mechanical scope involved new VAV boxes with reheat coils, replacement of an existing duct mounted humidifier and modifications to existing steam to hot water heat exchanger. The owner did not have the as-built record drawings. MEPIS performed detailed field surveys to document existing conditions. The information was transferred into AutoCAD and three different design options were developed. The owner elected to go with a roof mounted Air Handling Unit with hot water and chilled coils. MEPIS also developed shutdown Method of Procedures (MOP) and temporary heating and ventilation plans for the construction phase.
