University Of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland

Industrial Mechanical, Plumbing & HVAC Services

The Research Facility Project

The University of Maryland sought to build an outstanding research facility unique to the region and the nation. The experimentation taking place appears to rival the Biotechnological environments found in California. The owner’s research facility centers around the on-site Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) laboratories keyed in to distribute pharmaceutical grade materials and a certification that is very prestigious.

The CARB II facility contains a biocontainment Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facilities consisting of work and experimentation with indigenous or exotic agents which may cause serious, potentially lethal diseases as a result of exposure by inhalation route; new cGMP Certified Good Manufacturing Practices laboratory space funded by the State of Maryland as a training facility in concert with the Biotech community to further enhance and develop the scientific industry; and a fully independent pure steam generator consisting of stainless steel orbital welds, fully mapped and certified in accordance with the FDA guidelines.

Poole & Kent Mechanical, Plumbing & HVAC Contractor Role

Poole and Kent’s scope of work involved the following mechanical systems installations and energy services processes:

• New GMP laboratories consisting of independent air handling units and medical grade services.
• Provided complete mechanical piping systems consisting of two 450-ton chillers, tow 350-HP boilers and three 450-ton cooling towers.
• Provided complete commercial HVAC system consisting of 25 air handling units and 350 variable air volume terminal unites and air distribution duct systems.
• Provided a complete industrial plumbing system consisting of laboratory grade equipment, kill tanks and laboratory grade air vacuum equipment.
• Provided a complete and operational Energy management and Control System (EMCS) and an independent Laboratory Control System (LCS), which will be fully integrated with (EMCS).
• Provided a complete Reverse Osmosis and Deionized water system and an independent RO/DI GMP water system.
• Provided a Pure Steam Generator complete with the steam distribution piping to be fully integrated with laboratory grade experimental equipment.
• Provided a complete natural gas service.

Additionally, Poole and Kent provided the greenhouse mechanical systems to allow plant research in producing plant transformations for bioreactors so extractions can be made for future protein discovery.

Mechanical Construction Challenges/ Achievements/ Goals

Poole and Kent’s challenges included:

• The coordination and installation of laboratory sanitary systems routed to a kill tank.
• Maintaining project schedule with complete redesign of cGMP space.
• Installation of polished stainless steel piping systems servicing cGMP spaces.
• HVAC design assistance and procurement of custom AHUs with heat recovery functions.

Client:
University of Maryland, Facilities Management

Architect:
Burt Hill Kosar Rittlemann

Engineer:
RMF Engineering

General Contractor:
Barton Malow