Perry Animal Hospital
Gainesville, Florida
The Problem:
Provide an approximately 50% expansion of this existing rural vet clinic to increase their boarding and clinical capacity while also improving the building indoor air quality, including addressing poor humidity and odor control.
Given the boarding function, the building has a 24/7 animal housing operation that results in significant odor and indoor contaminants that must be exhausted to maintain control of odors and ensure the clinic employees and clients aren’t exposed to these hazards. To provide this exhaust while also maintaining building pressure, we required a very specific, 100% outside air HVAC system, which is not commonly available at the rural voltage that this site had. To work around this and to stay within the Owner’s budget, CSEI designed a custom air handling unit that is served by a residential-style variable refrigerant flow condenser commonly used with mini-slits. This single-phase option allowed us to meet the capacity and control requirements without necessitating a costly electrical service upgrade to provide 3-phase, commercial power to the building. We also provided all new LED lighting and high efficiency and optimized controls sequences to minimize the net increase in power consumption for the Client, despite adding 50% more building area.
Our Solution:
Involved from the very first design meeting with the Client, we were able to ask detailed questions to identify all current issues, prioritize the needs and goals of the project, and establish a budget that we could use to guide our design. Communicating openly with the Owner and understanding their operation fully allows our team context and empathy as we design our systems. With this perspective, we are not focused only on the engineering specifics and meeting the Code, but also think about the impact that those systems will have on the folks who use them every day. Consistently remembering that what we design can directly improve the working environment for the Client and their employees as well as improve the experience for their customers provides extra motivation and a sense of satisfaction that Engineers often miss out on.
