This project involves the transformation of the sixth floor of the UNH Manchester, Pandora Mill building site into the Biotechnology Innovation Center. This is a Laboratory facility for research and teaching in the areas of biotechnology and cellular biology. The facility includes wet lab spaces outfitted with typical wet lab equipment and designed to meet the needs of the biotechnology, medical technology, biopharmaceutical, and regenerative manufacturing industries. The 20,000 square foot space was previously unoccupied and used for storage. The lab spaces are fully configurable to accommodate training and education and include Biosafety Level 2 lab spaces, private offices, and non-lab training rooms.
HVAC systems include fully decoupled heating and cooling from ventilation, using a dedicated outside air system (DOAS) for ventilation, and leveraging the existing building’s condenser water loop for heating and cooling. This is an approach Petersen Engineering uses in a wide variety of building applications that results in lower energy use, quieter operation, and improved heating and cooling zoning and space conditioning required for this application which includes a variety of space types. The design also provides for future flexibility and the ability to adapt as the Innovation Center needs change over time.
Heating and cooling is accomplished with a water to water, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heating and cooling system that serves terminal heating and cooling units in each space. Ventilation is provided by a custom roof top energy recovery ventilator that conditions the outside air prior to distributing to the space. This system can run both heating and cooling at the same time by zone.