Project Brief

Kiely Hall at Queens College carries an 8,200-gallon water tank above its 13th floor that supplies both domestic water and the building's fire standpipe riser. The tank is believed to be original to the building and is beyond its useful life and beyond repair: CUNY experienced multiple leaks in recent years and incurred significant repair costs. DASNY retained KeRi Engineering to evaluate the existing system and recommend the necessary upgrades, an assignment KeRi began with a site visit alongside CUNY personnel to walk the systems and define the scope firsthand.

The evaluation reaches well beyond the tank itself. Kiely Hall has two separate fire standpipe systems: one connected directly to the street city-water service, serving the north and south wings up to the 2nd floor, and a second fed from the rooftop tank, serving the center core of the building from the ground floor to the 13th floor. The tank-system pumps, rebuilt roughly a decade ago, are at the end of their service life, and their controls had deteriorated to the point of requiring a hard power shutdown to restart. The structural steel supporting the tank shows rust and requires its own evaluation. Design and construction administration services follow the DASNY Term Contract for Professional Services, the CUNY MEP Term Contract, and the DASNY and CUNY consultant design guidelines.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

Evaluation and upgrade design for the rooftop tank system serving domestic water and fire protection:

• Condition evaluation of the original 8,200-gallon rooftop tank serving domestic use and the fire standpipe riser, with recommendations for the necessary upgrades
• Assessment of the building's two standpipe systems: the city-water-fed system serving the north and south wings to the 2nd floor, and the tank-fed system serving the center core from ground floor to 13th floor
• Replacement provisions for the aging fire pumps, rebuilt approximately 10 years earlier, including modification of the existing piping to accept the new pumps
• Replacement and upgrade of the failing pump controls, which had required hard power resets to restore operation
• Evaluation of the rusted structural steel supporting the tank, with upgrades as required
• Pre-design hazardous materials surveys (asbestos, lead-based paint, PCB sealants, universal waste, and mold) through Watts Architecture and Engineering, DASNY's pre-approved environmental consultant, retained by KeRi
• Cost estimates at 60% Design Development and 100% Construction Documents

The Challenge

A single original tank 13 stories up serves both the building's domestic water and the standpipe protecting its center core, so its failure modes are a life-safety problem, not just a plumbing one. The tank is beyond repair, the pumps are past their rebuilt service life, the controls could only be restored with a hard power shutdown, and the supporting steel shows rust, all of it atop an occupied academic building under DASNY and CUNY term-contract requirements.

Our Solution

KeRi scoped the assignment from a firsthand site walk with CUNY personnel, then structured a phased path from evaluation to construction: hazardous-materials surveys through DASNY's pre-approved environmental consultant before design, a system evaluation spanning the tank, both standpipe systems, pumps, piping, controls, and the supporting structural steel, and upgrade recommendations priced with cost estimates at the 60% and 100% design milestones. Design and construction administration follow the DASNY and CUNY term-contract guidelines, so the replacement moves through review and into construction on the standards both agencies require.