Baltimore County Public Schools, Franklin High School

Henry Adams provided the MEP engineering for the $11.4M project to install air conditioning at Franklin High School. The fast track design supporting 140,000 SF of the school was completed via phased/occupied renovation.

The mechanical scope included HVAC and associated building controls. Existing air devices were removed and replaced. Within classrooms and hallways, relief louvers were insulated and sealed under new work. New bulkheads were provided to route duct work to serve the air devices. New air handling units were provided with a dual temperature water coil for heating and cooling and a coil recirculation pump for freeze protection and serve the auditorium, gymnasium, activity room, cafeteria, and kitchen. New fan coil units were provided where the existing unit ventilators were removed within classrooms to provide heating and cooling.  A total of nine new DOAS units provide ventilation air to classrooms, corridors and nearby offices and miscellaneous rooms. The spaces with new work include the gymnasium, activity room, administration wing, shop building, cafeteria and kitchen, mechanical room, locker rooms, and classrooms. The plumbing scope entailed condensate drainage. The fire protection scope included the modification of the existing design to accommodate the installation of the air conditioning systems. Two 260-ton chillers were added.

The electrical scope encompassed power and fire alarm. A section of the existing main switchboard in the existing addition building was upgraded to support new circuit breakers to feed the proposed chillers. A new 1,200A distribution panel will be provided in the original building to serve the majority of the proposed HVAC equipment.  The remaining proposed HVAC equipment are supported from the existing electrical system. The existing conventional fire alarm control panel was replaced with a new digital addressable control panel to serve the new fire alarm devices associated with the proposed HVAC system.  The existing conventional fire alarm system devices were back-fed from the new control panel. 

Two cost estimates were provided and broken down into detailed individual costs or base system costs, first at 50 percent construction documents and the second at 100 percent construction documents. A peer review of a BCPS selected design of a school at the same grade level at the 50 percent and 100 percent construction document submission was conducted.  During review of the Henry Adams design, BCPS was impressed with how far along and complete the drawings were compared to other firms since this is one of 12 projects being completed concurrently.

This project was a part of Baltimore County’s larger initiative, Schools for Our Future, to install air conditioning within each of its public schools.