MEP and Fire Protection Design
When JP Morgan Chase, & Co. elected to consolidate all of its personnel in the Rochester, NY area to a 7-story tower in downtown Rochester, many of the floors needed renovation to bring them up to current code and modern office standards. Three floors of the building were completely demolished down to the structural framing, and new building systems, architectural elements, and furnishings were provided. Additional floors were also renovated.
Erdman Anthony was retained as a subconsultant to provide mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for the renovation that included over 120,000 square feet.
To support the technology upgrade occurring in conjunction with this project, a new main data center was designed with 100% redundancy in both cooling and electrical systems, including connection to the building’s emergency generator. The upgrade also included integrating modular chillers into the existing chilled-water system to enhance system performance, meet reduced loads, and provide continuous year-round cooling for technology rooms on each floor.
The existing building systems were reused and upgraded to provide better conditions for the occupants. HVAC systems on several floors were converted to VAV systems. Lighting was upgraded to more energy efficient fixtures, and new electrical distribution systems were designed to support existing and new furniture systems.
Since the building was without an addressable fire alarm and sprinkler system, Erdman Anthony designed a building-wide fire alarm system and incorporated the addition of sprinklers on the renovated floors, including a specialty double interlocked, pre-action system for the main computer room.
After completing the renovation of multiple floors in the tower, JP Morgan Chase turned to Erdman Anthony once again to investigate the replacement of chillers for the facility. Our firm met the aggressive four-month design and bid schedule for the chiller replacements.
The project’s first phase was a study that investigated the existing operations of the three primary chillers (the 550-ton chiller on the service level and the 680-ton and 750-ton chillers on the 27th floor). The study’s results provided recommendations with opinions of probable construction cost for the selected option, based on life-cycle cost analysis.
The project’s second phase resulted in the design of the selected option for the 550-ton unit, and our firm provided support during its construction execution phase. Moreover, the project’s schedule required our firm to relocate multiple tenants from leased spaces in a timely manner. All groups were successfully moved prior to their leases expiring.