Educational Facilities
This year the American Rescue Plan was signed into law providing public school districts with $122 billion dollars in funding for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER fund). The Federal funding is allowing school districts across the nation to upgrade and improve their buildings.
BCCLT has a long-term association with the Vineland, Buena, and Bridgeton School Districts. Currently in the design phase, we are working on projects with a value of $80,000,000. Following guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, BCCLT engineers are working with the school districts to improve HVAC system performance and air quality.
The BCCLT design is implementing the guidelines with a focus on providing quality air in the school buildings. Strategies being addressed by our engineers include high efficiency filtration specifically to capture fine particle materials, increased outside air delivery, the installation of UV lights and bi-polar ionization, and increased monitoring of air quality. Control systems upgrade and replacement furnish the client an energy management system allowing precise and accurate control and monitoring of HVAC systems resulting in energy efficiency and building comfort.
BCCLT Consulting Engineers is a leader in the design of mechanical and electrical systems in support of educational facilities. Over our long history we have had the opportunity to serve educational clients including local school districts operating primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, and vocational training centers. Our roles have been as the lead professionals for infrastructure design and systems assessments, and as the engineering consultants working with other design professionals for new buildings, renovations, and additions. We offer our clients over 55 years of continuous design experience with professional engineers in each discipline who for decades have worked together as a team. We believe the experience, education, and dedication of our professional staff is the key to our long-term successes.
The Federal funds are allowing schools to upgrade existing ventilation systems and improve indoor air quality. BCCLT Consulting Engineers continuing its long history has recently been retained by several school districts to evaluate their existing building infrastructure related to HVAC system equipment condition, operation, and performance in accordance with ventilation and air quality requirements under ESSER funding guidelines.
BCCLT Consulting Engineers are responsible for the evaluation of mechanical and electrical systems to determine their ability to serve the changing requirement of repurposed areas. In addition, new systems are needed to serve building additions while maintaining the operational integrity with other building systems. The electrical and HVAC load analysis preformed to validate demand requirements are one part of the systems evaluation. On site review of existing infrastructure by senior BCCLT engineers is necessary to determine the anticipated systems service life and capability. Our senior engineers with extensive training and experience in the assessment and evaluation of mechanical and electrical systems assist the school districts to identify conditions, formulate solutions and present recommendations.
Our Firm’s focus has always been the design of sustainable, energy efficient, appropriately sized mechanical and electrical systems. LEED accredited associates are involved with engineering design to ensure that mechanical and electrical systems and their controls are designed specifically for the facility and provide efficient sustainable operation. We recognize the importance of systems maintenance following the installation of our design and specify systems that match the capabilities of the facility staff. In these times of equipment and material delivery delays resulting in extended lead times and disruption to installation schedules the experience BCCLT engineers focus on the selection and specification of systems that ensure delivery on time and on schedule.
The experience of BCCLT engineers and their understanding of systems installation and operation allow our design to be implemented in the existing facilities while avoiding disruption to the teaching functions and accomplished within the funding limits. The BCCLT engineering team is available to assist educational facility clients with systems evaluation, assessments, design, and construction oversite.