Project Brief

KeRi provided the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection design for the renovation of Suite 4300 on the fourth floor of the Clinical Academic Building at Rutgers University Hospital in New Brunswick, working as engineer to DIGroup Architecture. The suite was vacant through design and was rebuilt into a reception and waiting area, an examination room, two ultrasound procedure rooms, a point of care room, a doctors station, a patient restroom, and a new toilet room.

Outside the reception area the partition layout stayed close to what was there, so the engineering went into fitting clinical functions into distribution that already served the floor. KeRi calculated the suite load against the building's packaged rooftop VAV system at 4.1 tons and roughly 1,900 CFM, then worked the air quantities room by room on an air change basis, adding one new VAV box with a hot water reheat coil for the examination rooms and rebalancing the existing boxes from airflow readings taken during demolition.

The new plumbing fixtures drove the most invasive work. Drainage for the added sinks, lavatories, and the new toilet room at room 4304 had to be run in the ceiling of the occupied third floor below, so the plumbing drawings cover both floors and call for access hatches where the new drain piping had to be installed from above. On the electrical side the suite was rebuilt on hospital grade devices off the existing fourth floor panels, with dedicated power for the ultrasound machines, microscope, and refrigerator, and fire alarm work coordinated through the building's existing fire alarm contractor so the new devices synchronized with the system already in place.

The 16 sheet set was reviewed by the Rutgers University Architect, went through two rounds of University Code Review, and was issued as the University approved set for bid in November 2019. KeRi stayed on through construction, answering RFIs, reviewing the plumbing fixture, light fixture, fire alarm, and sprinkler submittals, issuing Bulletin No. 1, and issuing ASR-1 in the spring of 2020 to remove the alternate scope and revise the documents to the base bid scope. As-built drawings closed the project out.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

MEP and fire protection for the suite renovation:

• Load and air change calculations for the suite, room by room
• A new VAV box with hot water reheat, with the existing boxes rebalanced
• New plumbing fixtures, with drainage run through the floor below
• Hospital grade power and lighting, with dedicated circuits for the clinical equipment
• Sprinkler layout revised to the new partition plan
• Rutgers University Code Review approval, then construction administration through as-builts

Systems by Discipline

The Challenge

A vacant suite on an occupied clinical floor had to become exam, ultrasound, and point of care rooms while the partition layout stayed largely as it was, which left the new air, power, and plumbing to be worked into systems already serving the floor. The added fixtures needed drainage that could only be run through the ceiling of the floor below, and the documents had to clear the Rutgers University Architect and University Code Review rather than the state review path.

Our Solution

KeRi sized the suite against the building's existing rooftop VAV system and set the air quantities room by room, adding a single new VAV box with hot water reheat for the examination rooms and rebalancing the existing boxes from readings taken during demolition. The plumbing was drawn across both the third and fourth floors so the new drainage could be installed from above with access hatches, the suite was rebuilt on hospital grade devices off the existing panels with dedicated circuits for the ultrasound and laboratory equipment, and the sprinkler layout was revised to the new plan. KeRi carried the set through two rounds of University Code Review to the approved bid set, then through RFIs, submittals, a construction bulletin, and as-builts.