Kristne Eash

Building Statistics

Kristen Eash
Construction Management
Advisor: David Riley
September 9, 2005
The Research and Economic Development Center (REDC)

 

 

General Project Data:

• Building Name: REDC Building

• Location: Penn State Erie Campus
Behrend Campus
Erie PA

• Building Occupants: School of Business and
School of Engineering and Engineering Technology
of The Pennsylvania State University

• Occupancy Type: Classrooms, Labs, and Offices

• Size (Total Sq. Ft.): 161,500 Sq.Ft.

• Stories: 2.5 Floors

• Primary Project Team:
o Owner: Department of General Services
o User Group: The Pennsylvania State University
o Architect: Weber Murphy Fox, Inc. (www.webermurphyfox.com)
o Consulting Architect: NBBJ (www.nbbj.com)
o Structural Engineer: Steele Structural Engineers (www.sse-erie.com)
o MEP Engineer: H.F. LENZ Company (www.hflenz.com)
o Civil Engineer: Urban Engineers (www.urbanengineers.com)
o Technology Consultant Group: The Sextant Group (www.thesextantgroup.com)
o Construction Manager: Turner Construction Co. (www.turnerconstruction.com)
o General Contractor: EE Austin & Son, Inc. (www.eeaustin.com)
o Mechanical Prime: Renick Brothers (renickbrothers.com)
o Plumbing Prime: Raibe Environmental
o Electrical Prime: Keystone/Deon – Pyramid
o Fire Protection Prime: Simplex Grinnell (www.simplexgrinnell.com)

• Dates of Construction:
o Start: April 28, 2004
o Finish: January 31, 2005

• Cost Information:
o Total Cost: $30 million
o Building Cost: $21.5 million
o Soft Cost: 8.5 million

• Project Delivery Method: Design-Bid-Build

Architecture:

Architecture:
The building consists of a half basement and two floors with the top one boasting of an atrium
bridge. The building is to bridge two sections of campus to promote a more unified college. It features
two wings; the first faces Jordan Road and the Knowledge Park; the second faces towards the east side of
campus. Wooded areas surrounding the site will be maintained along with new and existing pathways.
The facility will have brick as is the norm for all Penn State Buildings. The building will be home to the
College of Engineering and Engineering Technology as well as the School of Business. About half of the
building will be engineering labs. One fourth is proposed to be classrooms and computer classrooms.
Offices will make up the remaining fourth. Mechanical rooms will be located on the Basement and
Second floors.

Major National Model Codes: IBC 2002

Zoning: Educational with permitted use

Historical:
There is no historical information about this site. It must conform to Penn State’s building styles as denoted on the University design guidelines page: http://www.opp.psu.edu/construction/upmp/design_principles.cfm.

Building Envelope:
The building has a curtain wall system that supports structural glass in the stairways and main enterance area,
brick with glass windows in the main part of the building and metal wall panels in the dock areas and along
the indented roof areas. The roof is Thermoplastic Sheet Roofing over most of the roof with the low roof being
Architectural Metal Roofing. Under the roofing is a six inch layer of roofing insulation over steel deck.

Site Conditions:
The site is very steep with a rise of 50’ over the length of the building. It has a shale sub-grade
with silt under layer. Retaining walls will be very important.

Primary Engineering Systems:

Construction:
This project began in preliminary design stage. An estimate was drawn up using the campus
estimators and the building was found to be overpriced. By removing an auditorium the building design
and estimate were completed. After the design had been completed a CM Agency was hired through a
bidding process. The CM Agency then held the bidding for the General Contractor and Primes.
Construction began with the ground breaking on April 28, 2004. The scheduled finish for construction
is set for February of 2006. The building cost came to $21.5 million. With soft costs added in the total
for the building was $30 million.

Electrical:
Electricity will come in from the medium voltage campus distribution system. Primary service
will come into the building through an underground duct bank near the loading docks. This will be for
future campus expansion. Two secondary feeds will also be provided. The secondary feed, after coming
in the building will go through a 480Y/277 volt, 1500KVA transformer and serves the majority of the
building. The other secondary feed will enter into a 240 volt, 500 KVA transformer and will be sent out
to the lab and manufacturing areas. Electricity will flow from the transformer to the main breakers to the
main distribution center. There will be approximately 35 - 240/120 V, 3 phase, 3-4 W panel boards; 20 –
480Y/277 V, 3 phase, 4 W panel boards; 4 – Motor Control Centers at 480 V, 3 phase, 3 W; and one
natural gas generator run from the power supplied. The emergency power will be an indoor diesel
generator rated for 150 KW at 480Y/277V. This will be located in a room next to the loading dock and
will be able to provide 24 hours of backup.

Lighting:
The lighting in the building is fairly simplistic and very systematic. For all of the labs, shops, and
large bay areas there will be Metal Halide suspended bell lights. In the offices classrooms and smaller
labs there will be fluorescent recessed lights with dimming capabilities.

Mechanical:
The central cooling plant will consist of two 250 ton screw chillers, cooling towers and
primary/secondary pumps. The central heating plant will be two 3852 MBH cast iron hot water boilers
with natural gas burners and primary/secondary zoned pumping.
The Air system will include five roof top, three basement, and four second floor air handling units.
Of these ten are variable air volume and two are constant. One system has a redundant cooling for winter
requirements. The building is zoned based on occupancy. Air is distributed to rooms through ceiling
diffusers.
Though out the building there are 26 exhaust fans to remove air (8 rooftop, 7 basement, 2 first
floor, and 9 second floor). In some areas there are cabinet unit heaters that use water to provide extra
heating. The computer server rooms will have DX air conditioning units for 24 hr/ 365 day cooling
capabilities. The entire building will run off of a Direct Digital Control system.

Structural:
The building sits on three different types of foundations – strip, pad, and retailing wall. Form these
the steel superstructure arises. The typical column size is W14x61. Where there are CMU columns it is
8” CMU with 8” bond beam and 2 #4 bars. There is no typical bay size but they run about 30’x30’. All
floor slabs are 4” concrete slabs with 6x6 W1.4xW1.4 wire mesh. The average beam size is around a
W18x35 with 22KCS3 Joists. Exterior walls are all curtain walls with brick, glass, or metal. The roof is
framed with 22K7 beams with joists at 3’6” on center and horizontal bridging.
Additional Engineering Support Systems:

Fire Protection:
A domestic water line will be brought into the building to feed the fire lines. There will be a preaction
system for the labs and the computer rooms with a quick response dry head sprinkler and detector.
For the remainder of the building there will be quick response sprinklers. Classes and offices are to get
0.10 GPM/SQFT at 165°F. The metal labs and shops are to get 0.15 GPM/SQFT at 286°F. The electrical
assembly and manufacturing rooms will use 0.20 GPM / SQFT at 286°F. Plastic labs will get 0.30
GPM/SQFT at 286°F. There are 4- 6” fire stands located in various stairways throughout the building. In
these stairways there is also a 2” fire test drain.

Transportation:
There are two elevators in the building. Both are roped hydraulic with three stop capability and
battery backup. The first elevator will run at 125 fpm, carry 2500lbs, and have 30 HP. The second
elevator will also travel at a speed of 125 fpm, but will carry a load of 3500 lbs and have 40 HP.
There are also 6 stair wells. Four of these are fire rated stairways. The other two are decorative
and do not necessarily meet disability codes. The four stairways that are fire rated also have the stand
pipes and fire test drains.

Telecommunication:
Coming into the building there will be 4x4- 5” duct with 12 strand multi FBO, 24 strand single
FBO, two ½” aluminum cable, and 100 pair HPC OSP. After entering into the building the cables go to
one of the many racks one of the computer rooms. After it is in the building data goes through the switch
room which has a connector frame and backbone rack. Next it goes into the main distribution frame
which has one backbone rack and two horizontal racks. Then it goes into one of the 6 rooms with a back
bone and horizontal rack before disbursing to the designated rooms. The computers rooms and labs have
floor box outlets for data hookups. The classrooms have ceiling outlets and a phone. The offices have
two work station outlets each.

Special Systems:
Due to the steep grades on this site a majority of the foundation walls were required to be
retaining walls.