HHB Engineers, P.C. served as the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection Engineering consultants, including Construction Period Services, for the total renovation of this historic structure and was responsible for all aspects of the new Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, electrical systems, fire detection & alarm systems, plumbing and fire protection systems.
The Vance Federal Building and Courthouse is a 178,000 SF five story (4 above ground and a full basement floor) building located in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. This project is cerfied LEED Gold rating under the 2009 V3.0, met historic renovation requirements, courts design guide requirements, and ARRA High Performance Building Guidelines. Originally built in 1921 as a federal courthouse and post office, the Classic Revival building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Enabled by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, the project is part of GSA’s High-Performance Green Buildings and Design Excellence Programs. Included in the project are solar domestic water heating, rainwater harvesting for fixture flushing, site irrigation, and cooling tower make-up, high efficiency/low water demand plumbing system(s), daylight harvesting for all spaces along the exterior of the building and through light monitors in the three main courtrooms, heat recovery chiller for reheat, and other state of the art HVAC design and control options. Sustainable metrics include 70% indoor potable water savings, 30% energy cost savings and 34% energy use savings (over ASHRAE 90.1-2007) per LEED v3 requirements. In addition, Revit was utilized by the design team as a design and production tool on this project, as well as Navisworks clash detection by the Contractor during construction.
Total project: $35M
