Overview

The United States Navy added a 40,000 square foot aircraft hangar along with a 35,000 square foot office building at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.

Southland designed and installed the HVAC system and its controls, and also carried out testing, adjusting, balancing and commissioning of the system. We also installed all plumbing and sheet metal, and performed energy modeling to meet and exceed ASHRAE 90.1 energy efficiency standards, helping to earn a LEED Silver certification for the project.

Our Approach

The project required significant discipline in planning and execution not only because the client was a military installation with strict security practices, but also because of the project's proximity to an active runway, which remained open during construction.

To ensure a structured and coordinated approach, we employed a variety of methods to include:

Lean planning and pull schedules to track field progress and commissioning activities
REVIT for design, coordination, and fabrication and utilized for implementation of multi-trade modular construction. REVIT also was used to create a coordinated design model for all the trades that was used for spool drawing, eliminating the need to re-draw the designs, as is typically done during the coordination process.
Multi-trade modular racks were designed and fabricated by our team and included HVAC piping, ductwork, and plumbing, in addition to ductwork and piping thermal insulation. Conduit and cable tray were installed at an electrician's fabrication facility. The use of modular racks reduced the overall installation time by four weeks when compared with traditional installation practices.
Close coordination with the logistics team ensured materials arrived on time from our fabrication facility, which was located two hours from the project. Deliveries were just-in-time and closely coordinated with the strict access procedures required by the Naval facility.

Our approach allowed the team to seamlessly integrate field input into the design model, allowing for the inclusion of constructability comments in the 100 percent design documents, accounting for safety, equipment procurement, and logistical concerns much sooner than in a traditional plan and spec type procurement.

Result

The mechanical system we designed and installed exceeded client requirements for energy efficiency and reliability.

Additionally, Southland performed energy modeling and developed a comprehensive measurement & verification plan that the owner can use to track energy consumption and compare it to estimated energy use.