cENTER FOR LIFE sCIENCE - CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON

MEC completed the 80,000 square foot tenant fit-up of the lab research facility at Children's Hospital Boston (CHB), Center for Life Science/Boston (CLSB) in September 2008. The fast-track project scope encompassed electrical installations and integration of power, lighting and lighting systems, and fire alarm system for three new floors of lab research area (floors 12-14), as well as a remote mechanical room. MEC crews also installed conduit and cable trays for the lab’s tel/data systems and cabling for the Lenel security system and the CCTV security cameras.

The building required a custom order of Wiremold conduit, which included the custom engraving of all devices. Each device was cut to length and factory engraved, requiring that each piece be measured and identified prior to installation. Significant pre-planning and coordination occurred between MEC, the engineer, BR+A, and the general contractor, William A. Berry.

MEC installed four Russelectric 600A bypass switches that tie into the CLSB's emergency power system. For primary power, GE distribution switchgear was installed and tied into the base buildings’ primary power system.

The build-out required installation of sophisticated, specialty research equipment, including X-OMAT photography equipment, Buxton glass wash and sterilizers, cryostats, -40 and -80 freezers, fly incubators, a frog room with tanks and scheduled lighting, DAC fume hoods, a Mass Spectrometer, RODI water system controls and power, a Draeger oxygen depletion alarm system, and several Environmental rooms (cold and warm). A large and advanced Lutron dimming system was installed, allowing for light harvesting.

A unique requirement within MEC’s scope was the construction of a bridge on the 12th floor. The bridge adjoins the new research facility to an existing Children’s Hospital site (the Karp Building). Within this aspect of the project, MEC interconnected the CHB addressable Simplex fire alarm system at the Karp Building to the new facility for cross zoning with the Life Science Center’s base-building ESL fire alarm system.

Chief among the project challenges were the logistical demands of managing material delivery schedules and the labor force, as MEC provided construction concurrent with the eighteen-story building’s construction. In addition, eleven of the eighteen stories were simultaneously being fit out by other contractors and trades workers. Midway through the project, significant change orders were addressed to accommodate new requirements.

Upon certification of occupancy, Mass. Electric also provided a customized build-out for approximately twenty distinct areas of research on the three floors for CHB scientists to ensure a smooth transition during the course of the move-in, which lasted approximately one month.

Commenting on the project, MEC Superintendent Mike Leonardo said, “Critical to the success of the project was Mass. Electric’s project team’s ability to maintain the high standards of Children’s Hospital while meeting logistical challenges on a tight schedule.”