Solutions for Building Owners and Operators
Below you will find real life problems Allen Consulting has solved for a number of it's clients. You'll also find services we perform for building owners and operators and a sample of completed projects.
Solutions provided for other building Owners and Operations
Nature of Service Provided
| Problem | Solution |
| “We are getting ready to start a new building project. Projects we’ve done in the past have had many problems: systems that don’t do what our people expected; equipment that our maintenance people can’t maintain; cost overruns because walls and ceilings have to be changed when MEP equipment won’t fit; etc.” | Commissioning: Work began at the very first meeting with the architect and was followed through systematically. Thus the performance requirements were agreed to prior to design. Sustainability by operations people was ensured in design decisions, and construction decisions. There were far fewer surprises than on the owner’s previous projects. |
| “We have a drug processing component for which we need to quadruple our manufacturing capacity.” | Project Management, Validation Management & Design Engineering: Co-managed the project with the client’s project manager to hire a design/build team for the new facility and manage the successful project. Designed industrial ventilation systems. Managed the process validation, leading the team to prepare and execute the qualification protocols. |
| “We have a regulatory compliance problem that we want to correct, but the situation is very complicated, and we don’t know where to begin. Could you work out a plan and help us get buy in from the authorities?” | Regulatory Compliance: The exact nature of this problem is confidential. The solution was to create a priority system to determine what actions should be taken in a sequence that eliminated the highest potential risks first. With the risk ranked sequence in place, a project was planned to make best use of capital as it was available to bring the situation into compliance with regulations. |
| “One or our researchers wants to build a laboratory with a specialized HVAC system. He knows what the system needs to do for his experiments, but we’re not sure what a system to meet his needs would look like.” | Performance Requirements Definition: Interviewed researcher and assistant, documented requirements in their words, then translated them into design engineering terms. Design Engineering: Designed the specialized laboratory HVAC systems including laminar-flow clean-air equipment hoods and fume hood systems. Designed laboratory gases and equipment chilled water piping systems. |
| “We are planning to renovate an existing office building, would you design the HVAC systems for us?” | Design Engineering: Interviewed occupants to determine satisfaction with existing systems, assessed existing systems, designed replacement systems for renovation project. |
| “We want to replace an old autoclave and glass washer, could you manage that project and design the support utility systems?” | Project Management & Design Engineering: Interviewed researcher who used the autoclave, designed new room cooling, steam system and chiller system. Managed entire project through validation. |
“We would like to improve the maintenance of our buildings, would you inspect them and report to us what should be done?” |
Retro-commissioning: Prepared protocols and supervised maintenance personnel to carry out an inspection, test and tuning of building systems. Performance Maintenance: Documented new maintenance procedures based on the performance qualification protocols and the operating conditions after tests and tuning. |
| “We have a high-rise renovation project nearing completion, and many in-project design changes have been made to reduce cost. We need someone we trust to look at the design changes and work in place, then tell us if we have what we need.” | Engineering Counseling: Performed a peer review of the changes made from original A/E design to final contractor design/build design. Advised which changes were okay, which were not, and actions to take. Performed Construction Qualification inspection and provided report of needed corrections. |
| The pressure relief valve of a large heating hot water system opened, discharging hundreds of gallons of glycol, every time the system came up to temperature. | Solving Problems: Investigation showed that the expansion tanks were not large enough, but there was no space for larger tanks. A dynamic pressure control system was designed to increase the capacity of the existing tanks and solve the overpressure problem with minimal cost. |
| “We have a new 5MW standby generator system. The EPA won’t issue the permits and is barring us from using it.” | Regulatory Compliance & Dispute Resolution: The EPA had requested specific documents. The owner and contractor had sent the wrong documents because they did not understand what was needed. Conversations with all concerned resulted in the correct documents being submitted and the permit was issued. |
| “We have a manufacturing process that creates a lot of unhealthy dust. Our workers don’t like to wear protective dust masks.” | Design Engineering: Worked with the owner’s manufacturing engineers to redesign equipment enclosures and material conveying systems to contain the dust at the sources. Then designed a dust collection system to capture the dust from the enclosures and filter it out of the air. |
SERVICES
Commissioning (aka: Validation, retro-commissioning, re-commissioning, Performance Management):
The following steps make up this work.
You can read about each on the About Performance Management page.
- Performance Requirements Definition
- Design Qualification
- Construction Qualification
- Energy/Utility Analysis
- Performance Qualification
- Performance Maintenance
- Performance Improvement
Solving Problems: getting things to work right, determining the cause of a problem, devising the correction, supporting building technicians, simplifying the complex and difficult, elegant solutions
Engineering Counseling: design qualification, peer reviews, general engineering advice, being your engineer
Economic/Financial Analysis: project value, payback, rate of return, scenario comparisons, ensuring your money is well spent
Regulatory Compliance: public safety, building departments, environmental
Project Management: leadership, management, results on time and budget
Design Engineering: mechanical, HVAC, piping, laboratory systems, specialized equipment, industrial ventilation
Maintenance Management: preventive maintenance procedures, procuring services, planning
Situation Reports: vacated space condition reports, pre-project due diligence reports, construction inspections, opportunity assessment
Dispute Resolution: listening, investigating, objective third party opinions.
Samples of Completed Projects
Laboratories
770 & 790 Memorial
Project type: New biological R&D building core and shell
Use: biological laboratories, offices, parking
Building size: 2 buildings, 5 stories, 92,000 sf.
Services provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Laboratory exhaust and make-up air, chilled water, hot water, laboratory waste pretreatment, typical fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, and domestic plumbing.
8 St. Mary’s
Project Type: Laboratory fit-out
Use: Laser laboratory
Service provided: Mechanical design engineering
Major systems: VAV laboratory exhaust and make-up air, clean air system, process chilled water, laboratory gases.
32 Wiggins L-Labs
Project type: Laboratory fit-out
Use: Laboratory
Services provided: Mechanical design engineering.
Major systems: Flammable, noxious and corrosive fume exhaust systems.
45 & 75 Sidney
Project Type: Laboratory fit-out
Use: Animal care facilities, pharmaceutical R&D laboratories (drug discovery & biology), autoclave and rack wash facilities,
Building: 2 buildings, both 5 stories, 275,000 sf.
Service provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Barrier animal care facility HVAC, VAV laboratory exhaust and make-up air, high and low pressure steam, flammable materials storage spaces, laboratory waste handling and pretreatment, chilled water, hot water, laboratory plumbing, comfort HVAC, lighting and power, RODI water, gray water recycling.
900 Middlesex
Project type: New biomedical products manufacturing and R&D building
Use: clean room laboratories, autoclave sterilization facilities, process equipment fabrication and test laboratories, biological laboratories, and support offices
Building: 2 stories, 88,000 sf.
Services provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Clean room HVAC, VAV laboratory exhaust and make-up air, high pressure steam, clean steam, flammable materials storage, laboratory waste water handling and pretreatment, RODI water, chilled water, hot water, laboratory gases, domestic plumbing , comfort HVAC, standby power generation system, fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, and domestic plumbing.
75 Wiggins
Project type: Renovation
Use: Industrial - machine shops, plastic manufacturing test labs, process machine build & test labs, and offices.
Building: Single story; 31,000 sf.
Services provided: Project management, Mechanical design engineering
Major systems: Roof-top DX cooled, gas fired air handling units, compressed air, typical fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, and domestic plumbing.
Samples of Completed Projects
Commercial
361 East Broad
Project type: High rise historic hotel renovation
Use: Mixed - residence and retail
Building: 3 buildings, 2, 4 & 10 stories, 137,000 sf.
Services provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Split AC systems, fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, domestic plumbing, high rise smoke control, and emergency power generator
500 Atlantic
Project Type: New high-rise building
Use: Mixed - luxury hotel, restaurants, retail, indoor pool, health club, residences & parking
Building: 20 stories up, 3 stories down, 700,000 sf.
Service provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Energy recovery dedicated outdoor air & exhaust units, steam absorption chillers, domestic plumbing, fire alarm, lighting, power, high-medium-low pressure steam systems, hot & chilled water heating and cooling, fire protection sprinklers, steam domestic & HVAC water heating
601 Edgewater
Project type: New office core & shell
Use: Offices
Building: 5 stories, 172,500 sf.
Services provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: VAV roof-top DX cooled, gas heated air-handlers, typical fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, and domestic plumbing.
525 Okechobee
Project Type: New high-rise building
Use: Mixed - offices, parking, retail.
Building: 16 stories, 325,000 sf.
Service provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP) Commissioning protocols for life-safety systems.
Major systems: Water cooled packaged AC units on each office floor and related condenser water system, high rise smoke control systems, fire protection sprinklers, fire alarm, lighting, power, domestic plumbing, and whole building standby power generation system
599 Harrisburg
Project type: New mid-rise commercial buildings
Use: Mixed – residence & retail.
Building: 3 buildings, 1, 5 & 6 stories, 244,000 sf.
Services provided: Construction Qualification (MEP/FP)
Major systems: Air cooled packaged dedicated outdoor air units, split AC units w/ electric heat, fire alarm, lighting, power, and domestic plumbing, emergency power generation system, fire protection sprinklers w/ diesel fire pump
25 Buick
Project type: Renovation
Use: Offices
Building: 2 stories, 17,000 sf. (project area)
Services provided: Mechanical design engineering
Major systems: VAV DX cooled, steam heated packaged air handling unit for one floor, VAV air distribution systems for both floors, exhaust systems.
Samples of Completed Projects
Industrial
64 Jackson
Project type: New heavy industrial building
Use: Metal processing, manufacturing support laboratories and offices.
Building: Single story, 354,000 sf.
Services provided: Performance Qualification, remedial engineering.
Major systems: Process piping, chilled water system, hot water system, comfort and process HVAC systems, compressed air systems, electrical power systems.
3 Borinsky
Project Type: Manufacturing capacity expansion and improvement, existing building.
Use: Industrial - pharmaceutical product manufacturing and offices.
Service provided: Project management, Mechanical design engineering, building commissioning & process validation management.
Major systems: Proprietary manufacturing process equipment; dust collection, fume extraction & scrubber, process wastewater pre-treatment
Highland Bunker
Project type: Assessment
Use: Explosive material storage
Building: 1 story
Services provided: Systems survey
Major systems: Ventilation, grounding, security
186 Middlesex
Project Type: Renovation of existing warehouse
Use: Distribution warehouse and offices
Building: Single story, 109,000 sf.
Service provided: Project management, conveying systems design, commissioning and validation.
Major systems: Automated conveyor system, cold storage, roof-top DX cooled, gas fired air handling unit, warehouse workflow enhancements.
Poors Ford Road
Project type: New heavy industrial building
Use: Metal processing, manufacturing support laboratories and offices.
Building: Single story, 207,000 sf.
Services provided: Project management, dust collection design, conveying systems design, heavy equipment installation management, scrap handling systems.
Major systems: Automated storage & retrieval system, material handling robots, automated metal scrap handling, roof-top DX cooled, gas fired air handling units, manufacturing work cell development.
What would
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- Learn more about Commissioning & Building Performance Management
- Get help with a problem
- Get an answer to a question
- Learn about Allen Consulting, LLC.
For additional information, call or write to Allen Consulting.
