The Vehicle Maintenance Facility at Holmes Community College in Goodman, MS, was renovated into a combination Baseball and Softball practice facility and Weightlifting Area. CxGBS provided Holistic commissioning through our contract with the Mississippi Bureau of Buildings. Our involvement started early in the design phase and continued through construction.
Early involvement in the project provided tremendous value to the project. The design team decided early on that the single facility would have the baseball and softball practice areas heated and ventilated. In contrast, the weightlifting area would be air-conditioned. While it is common knowledge amongst architects to thermally separate the exterior enclosure of the building from the outside ambient conditions, it is not always as obvious when internal thermal separation is required. During the design review, we commented on the need for insulation in the interior walls separating the two spaces to help prevent condensation and energy loss. If the team had waited until an observed condensation issue while the building was occupied, this issue would have been extremely costly to fix.
We additionally commented on the need for impact protection of the sprinkler heads in the baseball and softball area. While the batting cages have nets that should prevent a direct impact, it is possible years down the line that a net could be torn. Additionally, college-age students will occupy this facility, and it is possible that they could continue to throw balls outside of the netted area. The cost of the impact protection around the sprinkler heads was minimal compared to the potential cost of repairing the damage created by an inadvertent sprinkler head discharge.
Other items commented on during the design phase included high/low drinking fountains for ADA compliance, ceiling fans for comfort in the workout area, exterior hose bibs for maintenance, moving a fan away from the edge of the roof per OSHA standards, addition of surge protection devices to the electrical system, additional light switches for proper access to area lights, and the addition of a code required a permanent ladder to access roof equipment.
During the construction phase, we commented early on about an unforeseen field condition blocking access to the back side of twinned duct furnaces. We worked with the contractor to provide wooden step access over ductwork. We confirmed with the owner that this access was accessible. Without this access, the owner likely would have stepped on and damaged the ductwork while maintaining the equipment in the future.
CxGBS provided testing on the window systems in the project. The window systems were a combination of new storefront windows in the building addition and retrofitted punched windows in the existing portion of the building. The new window systems passed the ASTM 501.2 spray nozzle testing, but the existing punched windows had several failures. We provided detailed recommendations to the contractor on properly waterproofing the windows. All windows passed during retesting. It is important to identify window leaks before substantial completion to avoid damage to interior building materials and the possibility of mold.
Other items discovered during the construction phase commissioning process were missing lavatory mixing valves, water heater and mixing valve temperatures not properly set, missing overflow drain from the tankless water heater, missing condensate neutralization, open neutral on the receptacles due to a missing power pack, missing hail guards at the condensing units, and a failed occupancy sensor in the restroom.
Overall, CxGBS provided excellent value to the owner. Issues that could have been major problems in the future were uncovered as soon as they were apparent. Issues addressed in design provided the best value since no destructive demolition was required to incorporate them into the project.
