Building Tune-Up - Pilot Study
Members of our Energy and Sustainability Services department performed a ‘building tune-up’ at the Juvenile Justice Center to identify opportunities for conserving energy and water usage. This evaluation was conducted as a pilot for the City of Philadelphia, for the development of Building Energy Performance Policy Ordinance and program guidelines. (BEPP)
Juvenile Justice Center | City of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Building Characteristics
160,000 SF
West Philadelphia, PA
Mixed Use – Penitentiary/Office Space
Building Construction Date – 2013
Members of our Energy and Sustainability Services department performed a ‘building tune-up’ at the Juvenile Justice Center to identify opportunities for conserving energy and water usage. This evaluation was conducted as a pilot for the City of Philadelphia, for the development of Building Energy Performance Policy Ordinance and program guidelines. (BEPP)
The scope of the evaluation included meeting with the facility maintenance team and the mechanical contractor, collecting performance data in the building automation system, and conducting independent data logging to analyze building operations over an extended period.
Through this data collection, the team identified opportunities for adjustments within the existing control system to generate energy and water savings within the mechanical system, lighting, and domestic hot water.
The team worked with the mechanical contractor to implement these opportunities within the building automation system and conducted a verification analysis to measure the impact of these improvements.
The team identified improvements to reduce unnecessary equipment operation that lower the operating time for major equipment and extend the replacement time, ensure occupant comfort was maintained, and generate cost savings through less energy and water usage.
The final recommendations are projected to generate savings of $0.15/SF or up to $24,000 annually, making the payback for the evaluation less than one year.
The deliverables of the evaluation included a final report and building evaluation worksheet, similar to the documents required as part of the Building Energy Performance Policy.
PES provided guidance to the City of Philadelphia for the BEPP to ensure the Tune-Ups provide value to building owners through improved building operations and cost savings.
Structural Engineering for New Municipal Offices
Design and engineering for municipal building
East Cocalico Township
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Structural engineering for a new 10,000 square foot facility to house all municipal offices and a complete full-time police department.
SSM developed the schematic plans and, with the assistance of a consulting architect, designed the facility.
The building includes the complete police department, including holding cells, secure evidence room, laboratory, interrogation/interview rooms, as well as normal police offices. The second floor housed all the municipal offices, including meeting rooms and offices for all public officials.
Adaptive Re-Use
SSM provided engineering for upgrades to train station that was built in approximately 1870.
KUTZTOWN TRAIN STATION
Borough of Kutztown
Train Station
Kutztown PA
SSM provided engineering for upgrades to train station that was built in approximately 1870. The upgrades include installation of restrooms, closets, new HVAC system, as well as insulation of walls, floor, and roof. The project also included improving the lighting, providing ADA compliant access to the building, and relocating the boarding platform. The large freight room in one section of the structure will become a meeting room for the Borough Council.
Concept Design for Probable Maximum Flood
Concept Design for Probable Maximum Flood
Reading Area Water Authority
Reading, Pennsylvania
LAKE ONTELAUNE DAM | READING AREA WATER AUTHORITY
Lake Ontelaunee Dam, built mid-1920, has stood for over 90 years supplying drinking water to the City of Reading and surrounding areas. Pennsylvania Code (Chapter 105) now requires most dam owners to upgrade to new flood standards or breach their dams.
SSM’s team of professional engineers (hydrologist, geotechnical and civil), geologists (geophysicist, structural and hydrogeological), surveyors, GIS technicians and construction specialists completed a Concept Design to fortify Lake Ontelaunee Dam to safely comply with design criteria for a Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). The Concept Design was prepared for the Reading Area Water Authority in response to the PADEP – Division of Dam Safety’s requirements to bring Lake Ontelaunee Dam into compliance.
The dam consists of a 544 foot uncontrolled ogee crest concrete spillway and a 2,890 foot earthen embankment section. Under the PMF criteria, the earthen embankment will perform as an emergency spillway. To fortify the embankment and prevent it from eroding away during a PMF event, its upstream face needs to be thickened and its downstream slope requires hardening with Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC). However, prior to RCC installation, subsurface soils need to be stabilized to support the proposed overtopping engineering controls and subjected PMF forces. In addition, the team addressed complications created by State Highway 73 which traverses the top of the dam with its guiderail system that raised the PMF.
In developing the most cost effective solution for the Authority, SSM evaluated several technologies and their subsequent costs or risks in addition to RCC including: articulated concrete block, 1,000 linear feet of culvert beneath Route 73, dam height reduction, a parapet wall option and a hardened artificial turf like system. Stability analysis, geotechnical investigations, environmental assessments, underwater dam inspections, and geophysical and hydrogeological studies were included with the Design Concept.
LAKE ONTELAUNEE | READING AREA WATER AUTHORITY