RDK Engineers Blog

Spotlight on:

RDK Principal: Chris Hildreth
Featured Project: North Shore Community College Net Zero Energy Building

By now, most people have heard about the work that Chris Hildreth and his team did on the North Shore Community College's new Health Professions and Student Services Building, the first state-funded Net Zero Energy (NZE) Building. A landmark project of this magnitude is one that commands attention; it is a project that inspired and motivated the members of the RDK team who were fortunate to have worked on it. In addition to being the first state-funded NZE building, the Health Professions and Student Services building is the second largest facility of its type in the nation, second only to a Department of Energy building in Colorado.

RDK provided MEP engineering services for the three-story, 58,700 SF building, and teamed with DiMella Shaffer as the architect, and Walsh Brothers as the contractor.  Ten years in the making, the building now consolidates the college's allied health professions programs – including nursing, animal sciences, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, and medical assistance disciplines – under one roof. The building is also targeting LEED Gold Certification, with annual energy savings estimated at $100,000 per year. 

The RDK Marketing Department sat down with Principal Chris Hildreth to find out a little more about his personal involvement in this exciting project. Highlights from the Q&A Session are below:

Q: Explain how it felt to bring together the geothermal designer, the photovoltaic efforts, and other key components and make sure that they all had the appropriate power to operate and succeed.

A: RDK was an integral team member for this Net Zero project. Each team member had an important role and responsibility to meet the goals of the project.  As MEP engineers, RDK had the role and responsibility to maximize the efficiency of the building's HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing systems, such that the energy input to the building was minimized.  By minimizing the building energy input, the photovoltaic and geothermal systems could maximize the benefit of the systems toward the goal of Net Zero.

Q: Was there a sense of tremendous pressure while the team was working since the project was under the scrutiny from politicians and other leaders of the Commonwealth?

A: The NSCC NZE building was certainly in the spotlight during design to achieve the governor's goal.  On any typical project, there are already pressures on the architect and engineer to meet the standard project goals of meeting building use requirements and schools needs, work within budget, and complete the design on time.  With this project, there was also the added of pressure of meeting the demanding list of requirements needed to achieve the NZE level.

Q: What were the most impactful lessons learned for you and the team?

A: For me, this project illustrated teamwork at its finest.  It was a powerful reminder to all of us that everyone involved from the state, owner, users, architect, engineers, contractors, and workers had to truly work together to make this unique and complicated building come to fruition. Together, all of us embraced the initial vision of the project and kept it in the forefront of our minds throughout the duration of the project.  To bring these energy-driven goals to life when the building was completed was an experience for which I will be forever grateful.  I look forward to working on future Net Zero Energy buildings and to the new relationships I will build from working on buildings like the North Shore Community College's Health Professions and Student Services Building – where collaboration is paramount and the end result is not only best for our environment and the end-users of the building, but also ensures long-term savings for our clients.

Q: Do you think the A/E/C Industry will see more owners wanting to pursue NZE buildings in the future?  Please include your thoughts about up-front costs and whether it is worth it to build these kinds of buildings.

A: I do think that more owners will want to pursue NZE Buildings in the future. It is true that NZE buildings may cost more at the time of construction, due to better quality insulation, better windows, and energy systems and controls that are more advanced.  However, I believe that this extra cost will be paid back over time due to energy cost savings.  By reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, that also means that we reduce some of the gases that cause global warming. That's a benefit for us, for our children and for people worldwide.

The RDK Marketing Department thanks Chris Hildreth for his time sharing his Zero Net Energy building experience with us and we look forward to covering all ZNE projects that the RDK team works on in the future.

 
North Shore Community College Net Zero Energy Building
Photo Courtesy of RDK Engineers

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Recently, RDK Engineers participated in a half-day Lean workshop in our Andover office.  The workshop was facilitated by the dynamic and talented team of Kelly Meade and Lisa Turturro, both of Haley & Aldrich.  Below are some highlights of the day's events.

What is Lean?
At its core, Lean is a philosophy that seeks to increase customer value and eliminate unnecessary waste. By applying systems thinking, Lean organizations see the whole value stream of their operations and find ways to use less material, effort, energy, and equipment to deliver increased value to customers while providing meaningful work for staff. Lean has successfully been applied by the manufacturing world to a variety of organizational challenges and is increasingly being used in healthcare operations.

RDK Principal Scott Shipp organizes our customer values.

Why is RDK interested in Lean?
Many of our healthcare clients apply Lean to all of their projects, so improving our understanding and application of Lean will allow us to align ourselves with their approach. RDK is interested in enhancing our position in the healthcare market sector by improving our understanding and application of Lean, since our Healthcare clients have already started applying it. We realize that this is increasingly being used to deliver more value with less waste in the healthcare design and construction market. We’d also like to learn where RDK can apply Lean principles internally that would help us decrease waste and increase production and profitability.

Learn by doing…
In order to implement Lean, you must “learn by doing.” Haley & Aldrich, a reputable geotech/environmental firm that we do some work with, is not only doing Lean design, but they have created an in-house group that is in charge of making them internally a Lean organization and also responsible for applying it to their clients and projects. The Haley & Aldrich team has experienced great success, and we hired them to lead our first Lean workshop. Their “Learn by doing” approach is based on three universal Lean principles: respect for people, an understanding of value, and a passion to remove waste.

RDK Principal Joe Bonanno identifies waste in the RDK RFI process.

Who participated?
We held our first Lean workshop with our engineers who work in healthcare.  Several RDK principals also participated in the workshop. 

What did we do?
We decided in pre-work meetings to tackle the RFI (Request For Information) process that we have internally at RDK. It is something that all participants in the class felt could be improved and something that had a LOT of waste. In class, we laid out every single step of the process and identified very quickly all the waste that we have in this process. We had people involved at every level of the process and there was an animated exchange during which many key initiatives were brought to light.

Value Steam Map

Results?
After five facilitated hours in a room together, we walked away with a Value Stream Map, which outlined our wastes and potential improvements that could be made to our process. We plan to sit down to see what is easily implemented and what we need to spend more time on.

RDK Lean participants discuss Improvement Profile and recommendations.

Where do we go now?
Completing one Lean workshop does not make us a Lean Design consultant, however,  it made us realize that we would like to become one. The way this happens is that we continue to do workshops, apply improvements to processes, minimize waste and then we slowly start adapting these principles company-wide. While doing this, we apply it to our project work and always consider the tremendous value that it can offer our clients.

We will continue along our Lean journey and we will keep you informed as to how it is progressing.

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For the past 10 years, RDK Engineers has been a proud supporter of Santa Clause Anonymous, a non-profit fund-raising organization that supports programs dedicated to the educational, social and character development of youth in the Greater Boston Area.

This year, RDK sponsored and decorated several Christmas trees for Santa Clause Anonymous' 25th Anniversary SnowBall, which was held on December 2.  Each year, 100% of the proceeds from the SnowBall go to three deserving programs.  This year, the funds raised benefited three different non-profits:  The Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, Girl's LEAP, and The City School.  Santa Clause Anonymous also donates all decorated trees to Christmas in the City following the event.  RDK is already looking forward to next year's SnowBall and to a continuing relationship with Santa Clause Anonymous for years to come.

Every RDK office gives back to the local community in its own way, and our Raleigh-Durham office is a proud supporter of the Durham County Fraternal Order of Police “Shop with a Cop” program.  “Shop with a Cop” matches children with participating police officers who accompany the youngsters on a holiday shopping spree for toys and clothing.  The event is one of several nationwide "Shop with a Cop" programs, which promote beneficial relationships between police officers and children in their communities.  It is truly inspiring to see these officers, who already do so much for their communities, helping to make a child's holiday season brighter. 

With the holiday season in full swing, we like to keep in our thoughts all those we walked with and in honor of during "Light the Night" back in October.  On October 2, "Team RDK & Friends" showed their support for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by participating in the 2011 Light the Night walk in Wakefield, MA.  The walk was one of over 200 held nationwide throughout the year. 

Lead by team captain Kris Scarborough, "Team RDK & Friends" tackled in the three-mile, noncompetitive walk around Lake Quannapowitt.  Team RDK & Friends participated in the walk in honor of all those battling blood cancer.  Many walkers held illuminated balloons, each symbolizing something different – white for a cancer survivor, red for supporters, and white in memory of those who lost their battle with cancer.   

All of us at RDK congratulate Team RDK for their work for such a great cause.  This was the team’s 11th year in supporting Light the Night, and all employee donations were matched by RDK Engineers. 

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RDK Engineers has completed work on the Department of Environmental Protection's William X. Wall Experiment Station.  RDK served as MEP/FP design engineer for the project, which involved extensive renovations to the lab facility, as well as construction of a new 11,400 SF state-of-the-art laboratory addition.  Perkins+Will served as the project architect.  Located in Lawrence – a stone's throw from RDK’s Andover office – the renovated facility features a large number of sustainable design components and is seeking LEED Platinum Certification.

RDK was thrilled to hear that Interaction Associates new Boston office has won the 2011 CoreNet Global New England Award of Excellence for Best New Workplace.  RDK provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering design services for the project, which was victorious in the small building renovation category.  Congratulations to Margulies Perruzzi Architects and the entire project team for a job well done.

The Massachusetts Building Authority recently awarded RDK our second MSBA on-call contract for commissioning services.  RDK has previously provided commissioning services for schools throughout the state including Dracut Senior High School, Glover Elementary School, and Shrewsbury Sherwood Middle School. We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the MSBA in 2012 and beyond. 

November is over, and it has been an eventful month for RDK.  We are thankful for our dedicated employees and great clients and partners who made it possible.  A happy holiday season to all!

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This "Tech-Tip" is provided by the Technology Design Group at RDK Engineers in an effort to assist Architects in space planning for integrated design of technology driven systems.

Today's RDK-TD "Tech-Tip"- Equipment Racks

EQUIPMENT RACKS: Why Pre-Planning is Key!
You've all been there. You're at a schematic design level meeting with the owner's Information Systems team to develop the size of an IT room needed within the new space you are designing, when you ask "How large does the room need to be?" The response is often, "We will have five racks in the main room, and two racks in the remote rooms." Success? Maybe not. You later find out during construction that the IT team used the term "racks" loosely to refer to ALL support systems that house active and passive electronic equipment and that the racks in the main room are not the same size as the racks in the remote rooms. Now space and clearance requirements are a problem.

Here are the three main types of "racks":
Photography courtesy of Panduit Corporation

1. 2-post rack Sometimes referred to as open bay equipment rack Dimension are often 21” wide by 15” deep They house electronic equipment that can extend to the rear of the rack as much as 24 to 29” Usually requires vertical cable managers on each side of the rack which can range from 3” to 12” increasing the width of the rack, especially when lining up multiple racks Requires 36” of working clearance in front and back

2. 4-post rack Dimensions are often 24” wide by as much as 29” deep Usually requires vertical cable managers on each side of the rack which can range from 3” to 12” Requires 36” of working clearance in front and back

3. 4-post Cabinet Dimensions are often 24” wide by as much as 48” deep Usually enclosed and includes front and rear doors with fixed side panels Vertical cable managers on each side of the rack are typically contained within the enclosure Requires 48” of working clearance in front and 36” of working clearance in back

Below is a typical example of a 2-post rack installation with the front and rear of the rack open to install equipment and provide technician working clearances.

Below is an example of the main telecommunications room where we show the different types of 2-post racks, 4-post racks and enclosed cabinets. As you can see with the cabinet dimensions and required clearances the room size requirements can get quite large. If a 4-post rack or cabinet was used in example #1 above you can see how the room would be too small to access the front and rear of the rack causing a possible redesign of the room during construction.

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The summer and fall have been a busy time for RDK Engineers as many of our project teams celebrated the official opening of several projects.

RDK provided LEED commissioning services for the new 34,000 square foot New Boston District B-2 Police Station in Dudley Square, which celebrated its official ribbon cutting on July 30.  The building is on track for LEED-Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council, which would make it the first public-safety building in the city to receive such recognition. 

On August 25, RDK Engineers attended the official Key Exchange Ceremony for the new North High School in Worcester, MA.  In the key exchange ceremony, a Worcester tradition, the city council symbolically transfers the care of the new facility to the Worcester Public Schools.  RDK provided MEP engineering services for the new four-story North High School.  The event was well-attended by students and teachers past and present, residents, city councilors, state representatives, and Massachusetts Lt. Governor (and former Worcester mayor) Tim Murray. 

September 8 saw the grand opening of the American Bureau of Shipping Information Commons, built on the scenic oceanside campus of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.  At the ceremony, many speakers remarked about how green the facility is, including features such as chilled beams, radiant floor heating, day lighting, and a low emissivity roof.  The project is aiming for LEED Platinum certification.  The impressive facility includes a "Ship's Bridge Simulator" that allows cadets to steer a massive simulated ship.

The end of September was also an exciting time for our Charlotte, NC office.  The newly renovated operating rooms at the Carolinas Medical Center's Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute (SHVI) officially opened on September 26.  This is the first phase of a two phase project, with each phase including three operating rooms.  RDK was the prime consultant and provided engineering services for the renovations. 

Congratulations to all the project teams for a job well done! 

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RDK welcomes Bill Leuci as a new Group Leader and Vice President in the Boston office.  Specializing in laboratories, pharmaceutical facilities, data centers and power systems, Bill will focus his efforts on continuing to deliver world-class consulting services to Fortune 100 clients.   Bill's other areas of specialty include business continuity, critical infrastructure design, alternative energy systems, and cogeneration and power distribution.  Welcome, Bill!

RDK is also pleased to welcome David Courtemanche as the new Electrical Department Head.  A Registered Professional Engineer with over 35 years of design experience, David specializes in project engineering for electrical systems, and field supervision.  David's experiences cover a wide range of new construction and renovation projects including laboratories, computer facilities, academic institutions, central utility plants and electrical distribution systems.  Welcome, David!

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Author:  Dan Villeneuve, Design Technology Manager/BIM Manager

As a guru of all things Autodesk and lover of Design Technology, I have come to realize that the required tool for our industry is a longer list of software than ever before.  It made me think back to when I was first interested in buildings as a boy, sketching the Gore Estate on my sketch pad (not the iPad app) with as little as a pencil and a pad of paper.  The days of entering this industry for the purpose of art are being substituted with technology.  Or are they?

Some people today are still entering this industry for a root love of drawing and a love for the art of architecture.  They can think back to a time when they were simply awestruck looking up at the utter magnificence of a skyscraper as they stood at the base of one.  Soon there will be a generation of people that has never put pencil to paper for the purpose of drawing a building.  Instead, people are drawing on their computers and are very efficient at it from a very early age.

Our tools are changing, our methods are changing and even the artistry of our craft is changing.  But do we stop to take a look long enough to identify it as art? For those of us who may have started out with a pencil and a drafting table but have found ourselves loving or even just interested in the modern designs taking place today, we may want to take a minute to look at the process of generating building data during its life cycle and recognize it as a modern reflection of our changing industry.

If you ask me, yes, it is art.  And art is not being substituted for technology, it is becoming one.  A modern art form has evolved from the never forgotten pencil and paper into a sophisticated mesh of multiple minds, shapes and forms. All of these designs and drawings that could once be looked at as individual art from each trade or discipline are now coming together to form the most sophisticated visual art our industries have ever seen.

It is an art we have come to call a Building Information Model.

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Laura DePalma, RDK Principal and CFO, is a winner at the Boston Business Journal's Annual CFO of the Year Awards! 

Laura, who was triumphant in the Midsized Private category, was part of a diverse group of winners that included CFOs from Suffolk Construction, the New England Aquarium, and Atlas Ventures.  An accompanying article in the Boston Business Journal highlighted not only the growth RDK has seen since Laura became CFO, but her volunteer efforts, her dedication to employee training and wellness, and her commitment to a maintaininga "family atmosphere" at the firm.

All of us at RDK are overjoyed by Laura's honor.  She truly is the heart of RDK.  Congratulations Laura!

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Author: James Koloski, Business Development Manager

Every day I pass the Kennedy Library and don't give it much thought.  I've been in the facility dozens of times since it opened, on field trips in school, or more recently for fundraisers.  Last week, my son asked me what the building was when we passed it on the Expressway.  A long conversation followed about the meaning of the structure, how it stored important historical documents and exhibits on President Kennedy's life and service.

Fifty years ago, President Kennedy delivered his inaugural address on a cold day in Washington D.C.  While the overall theme of the speech was strong on foreign policy, the address also laid the groundwork for a renewed sense of work and focus to benefit everyone in the world regardless of race, sex or creed.  People engaged their minds, the Peace Corps was founded, and before the end of the Sixties, man stepped on the face of the moon.  We moved forward.

As professionals in the A/E/C industry, what we do every day helps everyone move forward.  We design world class healthcare facilities.  We build cutting edge research labs.  We furnish universities with revolutionary technology.  All of this work adds up.  It means something to your children, parents, friends and neighbors.  

And we're good at it.  We need to be because everyone in this area is world class, including our competition.  The Academic, Health Care and Research communities here are second to none, and they demand the same from us. 

I'm usually pretty bad at sticking to resolutions so I didn't make any in 2011.  I think it's because too often my mind is caught in the minutia of the day and what’s on my “to-do” list.  I don't give my surroundings that much thought.  A simple question from a six-year-old somehow managed to change that for me. 

Yesterday morning after a meeting at a hospital I didn't blindly rush back to the garage to get my car and drive to my next meeting.  I stopped and looked a little deeper at the design, how it functioned for employees and visitors.  Day-lighting, good wayfinding, all of the seemingly little details added up to a better experience.  It was easy to move forward.

I can't promise that I'll do that every time I walk into a building, but I did think about President Kennedy stuck in traffic on the Expressway this morning.  That's a start.

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