Blackbird Biohub

Some projects deliver big transformations.

On Baltimore Peninsula, DEL Electric was part of a project team that transformed a vehicle maintenance garage into a 31,000-square-foot incubator for emerging biotech companies.

“This used to be a city maintenance building where they fixed dump trucks and trash trucks,” said Richard Plitt, Project Manager at DEL Electric.

Although the site presented crews with a large open space, it also posed industrial challenges.

The first was the concrete floor which was 16 inches thick and covered with a topping slab. DEL and the plumbing contractor would need to cut into the floor in multiple locations.

“It took a very big saw and a lot of time,” Plitt said.

The second was the 19-foot ceilings.

DEL and other members of the project team completed the transformation in a tight, eight-month schedule. Together, they built out multiple wet labs with a total of 90 research benches, over 70 open workstations, multiple collaborative office suites, a vivarium, a CLIA-ready diagnostics facility, a new mezzanine level and an outdoor pavilion.

DEL’s work included installing large quantities of time-consuming, three-section surface wiring raceway, including wiring for electrical, emergency power and data in all labs. The team installed a new fire alarm system and integrated it with the system in the previously renovated and occupied portion of the City Garage building. DEL installed custom lighting through the facility, including extensive, modern lighting controls.

Due to expanded operations in the building, DEL brought an additional 1,200 amp service to the site and crews replaced existing, rooftop air handlers and associated devices.

“The existing mechanical equipment wasn’t sufficient to keep the added space conditioned and to control humidity levels which was a big, important thing,” Plitt said. “They needed a lot of mechanical equipment, including steam generators, for humidity control.”

The project team also had to ensure that labs – which would be outfitted with autoclaves, vacuum pumps and other specialized equipment – had sufficient power plus full backup.

Crews also had to complete the renovation without impacting existing tenants who were also operating research labs. Noisy work was restricted to off hours and outages carefully coordinated with tenants.  When crews couldn’t provide backup power during an outage, “we worked as fast as possible,” Plitt said.

The project delivered both a highly sophisticated research facility and a highly attractive one, he said. “It’s a really good looking building with very nice architectural features,” including high open ceilings, meticulously installed electrical and mechanical equipment, pendant lighting and custom millwork.

Featured companies: DEL Electric, Fidelity Mechanical Services