The Lathrop Company Office Building Renovation

The Lathrop Company provides construction management and design/build services with an emphasis on sustainability. Putting Green building practices in their headquarters, not only provides a showplace of their quality construction, but also results in energy savings backing their beliefs: water consumption has been reduced 50%, gas consumption has dropped 10%, and electric consumption decreased 30%.

Certification:  LEED CI 2.0 Certification

Renovations to the 22,000 square foot single-story office building achieved LEED Certification for Commercial Interiors through the USGBC.  Green features include lighting controls, natural day lighting, Energy Star appliances, 94% efficient boilers, new chiller, and an ice storage tanks. JDRM Engineering’s mechanical system modifications encompassed the heating and cooling systems, building controls, and plumbing fixtures. Electrical systems incorporated upgrading lighting fixtures and controls.

The heating system included the replacement of perimeter cooling only variable air volume boxes to fan powered variable air volume boxes providing more adequate heating.  The cooling system involved removing a refrigerant coil and the respective outdoor condensing unit serving an indoor air handling unit with a chilled water coil served by an outdoor chiller with ice storage.  The entire pneumatic control system was replaced with an automated web-based control system. Existing plumbing fixtures were replaced with low flow water saving fixtures. These included the water closets, urinals, and hand lavatories.

The lighting throughout the building was upgraded to energy efficient lamps and electronic ballasts.  Occupancy sensors were installed in all rooms for automatic control of the lighting. All lighting in open office areas, private offices, and conference rooms were double switched in conjunction with the occupancy sensors to allow lighting levels to be manually decreased 50% by the occupants. In particular, the lighting in open office areas was replaced with new two lamp fixtures with an efficiency of 88% versus 73% for a three lamp parabolic fixture. Providing similar lighting levels, the new fixtures draw 30% less power than traditional 3 lamp fixtures commonly used in office buildings.

Engineering Disciplines

Mechanical Engineering

Plumbing Engineering

Fire Protection Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Technology Engineering

The project was completed within the specified time frame and under budget costs.