The new 13,000 square-foot South Adams County Water and Sanitation District Administration building was constructed on the site of the District’s existing facility. Construction was phased to allow administrative functions to remain operational until the transition to the new space. The new building, twice the size of the original, was designed to operate at a similar utility expense.
Mechanical design for the project consisted of utilizing a large concrete reservoir system as the heat sink for a heat pump system. The reservoir water is pumped into the building, through a heat exchanger, and then returned to the reservoir with an overall temperature rise of less than 2° F on design day conditions. A separate closed-loop system of condenser water is located within the building and is pumped through the heat exchanger and out to the heat pumps located throughout the building.
The overall building was also reviewed and studied with the architect to site the building with reduced window exposure in the summer, utilizing overhangs to shade the south and west windows, keeping a careful eye on the window to wall ratios, and evaluating the insulation used in the walls and roof for a highly energy-efficient building.
