Veteran's Administration Hospital - Decatur, GA
Mr. Elkins performed this project prior to forming Expert Consultations, LLC.
Project Description and Photo: The renovation of the building consisted of approximately 600,000 SF of surgical, laboratory, diagnostic, treatment, and administrative areas of the hospital. Renovation of the central plant was part of this project, in which a new chiller was added to the plant and new feedwater and treatment of the steam system was installed. Asbestos abatement was a requirement of this project.
Services Provided: Brad Elkins was the lead mechanical designer for this project during the renovation phase. Mr Elkins also generated the abatement and phasing scope based on extensive site survey of the facility.
Why the Project is Relevant: Because of the need to maintain central systems while performing wholesale renovation and abatement, careful planning of the renovation was necessary to properly sequence the construction. Mr. Elkins initiated and led a six-month survey of the basement/crawlspace to document the active utility systems and active duct systems for which no previous documentation was available or accurate. Mr. Elkins used the results of this survey to determine the optimum phasing of the asbestos abatement. The original phasing plans for this project required abatement to be performed on active systems using glove-bag technique. Mr. Elkins recommended the design of new service corridors and mechanical rooms in the basement that were then used to back feed select areas of the building so critical services could be maintained while allowing their disconnection from the central air handling system. As a result, the need to glove-bag was eliminated in favor of using small bulldozers and the cost of the abatement was reduced by over ten million dollars.
Mr. Elkins also created designs for a multi-phase replacement of the built-in place central air handling unit which served the entire complex, multi-phase design of a new penthouse mechanical room that maintained use of existing roof-mounted specialty exhaust systems, and a multi-phase renovation within the central plant. Each design required careful analysis of the operating systems to enable the work to be phased and installed in the specific sequences necessary to maintain operation of critical systems even while they were being relocated to fit the new construction.
Services Provided: Brad Elkins was the lead mechanical designer for this project during the renovation phase. Mr Elkins also generated the abatement and phasing scope based on extensive site survey of the facility.
Why the Project is Relevant: Because of the need to maintain central systems while performing wholesale renovation and abatement, careful planning of the renovation was necessary to properly sequence the construction. Mr. Elkins initiated and led a six-month survey of the basement/crawlspace to document the active utility systems and active duct systems for which no previous documentation was available or accurate. Mr. Elkins used the results of this survey to determine the optimum phasing of the asbestos abatement. The original phasing plans for this project required abatement to be performed on active systems using glove-bag technique. Mr. Elkins recommended the design of new service corridors and mechanical rooms in the basement that were then used to back feed select areas of the building so critical services could be maintained while allowing their disconnection from the central air handling system. As a result, the need to glove-bag was eliminated in favor of using small bulldozers and the cost of the abatement was reduced by over ten million dollars.
Mr. Elkins also created designs for a multi-phase replacement of the built-in place central air handling unit which served the entire complex, multi-phase design of a new penthouse mechanical room that maintained use of existing roof-mounted specialty exhaust systems, and a multi-phase renovation within the central plant. Each design required careful analysis of the operating systems to enable the work to be phased and installed in the specific sequences necessary to maintain operation of critical systems even while they were being relocated to fit the new construction.