Phase 1 facility features include:

• High-Availability, concurrent maintainability on all components
• Entire critical load fully Level 5 Commissioned
• 38,253 sq. ft. of data hall white space
• Supports average energy densities of 200 watts/sq. ft.
• Structurally Sound: FEMA 356 “Essential Facility” category
• Seismically Reinforced: Building and all improvements seismically reinforced to a 1.5 Structural Importance Factor
• Carrier-Neutral: Six Tier I carriers on-property: Level 3, AboveNet, CenturyLink (Qwest), AT &T, Verizon Business and Tata Communications.
• Low latency: 17 msRT to San Jose, 3.5 msRT to Seattle, 45 msRT to Chicago, and 87 msRT to Tokyo, Japan

The project is a ground-up, structural steel building nestled into the hillside. The team had to excavate the site and remediate sink holes common to the campus. To further protect the structure, it is built on micropiles and utilizes Buckling Reinforced Brace Frames to withstand seismic activity.

The interior of the building is full of exposed concrete, ductwork and piping. The MEP coordination had to be perfect to ensure that these elements be aesthetically pleasing. The flex space sits on a raised floor and is designed with acoustics in mind.

Built in the middle of an operating campus in the middle of the school year, great care was taken to minimize disruption to student and faculty activities. Working closely with campus officials, disruptive activities have been timed to avoid affecting day-to-day operations. Additionally, the project team has taken great care to protect all trees on campus as well as design and implement a comprehensive Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).

The project is located in the middle of an occupied campus. Limited space on site has necessitated the use of just-in-time delivery for all construction materials. Surrounded by dorms and classrooms, noise, smell and dust protection measures are in full force to protect building occupants and neighbors from the effects of construction. As an environmentally sensitive campus, the use of windows rather than forced air is common, increasing the need for the construction team's sensitivity.

The challenges of this project were many, including building in the midst of a congested academic setting, site constraints, and working in winter with excessive rainfall. Before one speck of the eventual 50,000 yards of dirt was exported or 1,100 tons of steel erected, 15 months were shaved off the traditional UC system timetable for projects.

Equally impressive was the project's safety record: The DPR team logged 300,000 hours without an injury and worked 12 months without a recordable incident. Furthermore, the owner's representative ranked DPR an average of 67 percent better than “Best in Class” in the areas of safety, quality, cost management, planning, job staffing, teamwork, responsiveness, cost control/billing, change orders, and closeout.

The three-story structure with a stucco finish has wing-like parapets on all sides which provide sun shade during hot summer months. Stair towers are positioned at both ends of the long axis of the building.

More than 80 percent of the space is for OB-GYN, pediatric and dermatology care, with the remainder for pharmacies, laboratories, health education and physician's office space. All areas are arranged for maximum efficiency in a series of clinical modules, with offices on the perimeter and examination rooms in the center.

Kaiser Permanente's executive vice president for Northern California, David Pockell, toured the completed Santa Teresa medical office building and gave it high praise. “He sees buildings all over the region, and so the fact that he was very impressed with this one is really important. He is not an easy person to impress, and he was very, very impressed,” said Yvone Hobbs, Kaiser's facilities development team leader.

The project was delivered using lean construction techniques designed to maximize overall production value, reduce waste, and maintaining the highest quality. For example, over 90 percent of the demolished Emporium building was recycled. DPR reused all of the concrete from the demolished building, which saved approximately $450,000 in transportation, material and landfill fee costs. The steel and aluminum went to American Steel in San Jose, finding new life as cars, cans and other products made from recyclable materials.

Along with lean construction practices, DPR developed three-dimensional (3-D) and four-dimensional (4-D) virtual building models that resulted in a more efficiently delivered project. Early on, the virtual building models, which incorporate the element of time into 3-D computer-aided-design drawings, helped communicate sequencing issues during design coordination. The models were used during the MEP installation and have enabled the prefabrication of most of the materials for a just-in-time delivery. This process, according to the MEP subcontractors on the project, is improved productivity by as much as 20 percent on this part of the project.

The building incorporates numerous earth friendly materials, selected for their durability, low maintenance and non-toxicity. DPR even had the local building department change the code to allow Aspect to use raised flooring throughout the building. Typically raised flooring is only for data centers. Aspect's utilization of recyclable materials and energy efficient practices, along with a building design allowing ample access to fresh air and natural light, and raised flooring puts this building at the top of the list for "green" buildings in San Jose.

The pilot plant, completed in May 2007, contains areas for gowning and lockers, cleaning preparation, Class 10,000 sampling/dispensing and labeling, Class 10,000 drug solution, coating, assembly and packaging, waste storage, bathrooms and showers, server room and shipping/receiving and warehouse. It also included an environmentally controlled crystalization room. DPR assisted in the installation of the owner-supplied pouching machine, which arrived in eight pieces and had to be carefully moved into the space and assembled over three days.

Challenges on this project included the design/build MEP systems and the aggressive design schedule. In order to meet deadlines, it was imperative that materials were ordered and released on time. The design approval process with the city, while challenging to the schedule, proved to be a great opportunity to develop a good working relationship with the city inspector.

To ensure that the end users would have a space that met their daily needs, Alexza production and science managers were accompanied on frequent jobwalks with clipboards and forms and asked to identify issues they had with the space.

The lab and office renovation consists of new open office space, structural upgrades to support additional mechanical equipment and chemical labs. The scope of work for the labs includes casework, fume hoods, nitrogen, clean air and hydrogen.

As a validated facility, this project required a significant amount of documentation. Highly experienced in building validated facilities, the DPR team began preparing for the validation process before a single tool was picked up. By developing the documentation plan early, DPR eased the process of compiling and delivering the 40+ binder turnover package.

DPR likely set a record by completing the 108,000-sq.-ft. project, which normally would have taken approximately 10 months, in only four-and-a-half months—and coming in two weeks early. The project entailed the renovation of former office space into a 22,000-sq.-ft. Class 1 cleanroom along with associated support facilities, offices and infrastructure.

Converting what had previously been simple office space into a high-tech manufacturing facility offered a unique challenge. The project required:

• Designing and building in structural upgrades, including a steel mezzanine level to support all the mechanical equipment for the cleanroom
• Incorporating special scrubber exhaust systems
• Adding 47 recirculating air handler units for the cleanroom, which were installed into the ceiling space directly above it
• Building a new equipment yard for the chillers, towers and boilers, along with a 20-ft. deep acid waste neutralization pit

Phase 1 features include:

• Tier III design: N+1 to 2N Redundancy on all Systems
• EYP Commissioned, Supporting Energy Densities of 200 watts/sq. ft. throughout
• All improvements seismically reinforced to a 1.5 Structural Importance Factor
• PUE 1.37

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It's no surprise then that when Digital Realty Trust needed to build out a data center and telecommunications facility in Santa Clara, it called on DPR, the technical builder that specializes in projects for advanced technology clients.

Digital Realty Trust relied on DPR to design/build this 40,000-sq.-ft., raised-floor data center and 20,000-sq.-ft. support space with rooftop cooling system. This included complete program, basis of design, schematic design and permit documents.

Brought into the process early on, DPR provided procurement and estimating services to develop the project budget and led the competitive bidding process for all mechanical, electrical, plumbing, civil, structural and architectural trades. DPR also acted as the project liaison with the City of Santa Clara Planning, Building, Public Works, Fire and Electrical departments.

While there were multiple players on the design/build team, DPR provided Digital Realty Trust a single source of accountability for the project design, schedule and budget. From the beginning, DPR set about building a cohesive team and obtaining buy in from all its members. Pre-planning efforts on every aspect of the project, from initial design and estimate to scheduling tasks and phasing subcontractors, ensured that there was sufficient time to deal with any hiccups that might arise during startup. The result? Timely delivery of the project, zero safety incidents, and no disruptions to existing tenants.

The site was turned over to the client  with a PUE Measurement of 1.36 at 100% IT Load and was completed under budget.

The project consists of a build out of an existing two-story facility that was extensively upgraded for data center use. Scope includes 32,139-sq.-ft. of raised floor with 110 watts/sf on the first floor and 174 watts/sf on the second floor and 4,952dW of critical power. Cooling system is eight 55,000 cfm roof mounted Climate Craft air handlers and 44 Leibert CRAHs. The air handler cooling coils are provided chilled water by four 500 ton Trane centrifugal chillers. UPS system is comprised of eight 50kVA modules and eight 626kVA modules. Mechanical cooling is water cooled chilled water with CRAH units and Packaged Air Handlers which include outside air economization to provide for excellent energy efficiency.

Several value added services were performed for this client including:

• A site search covering 11 states, 30 communities and 50 specific sites
• Negotiation of an incentive package, including utility and infrastructure extensions and grants, enterprise zone tax credits and other incentives to assist this large client to locate in Nebraska
• Due diligence of the selected site and all associated infrastructure
• Coordination of all utility and infrastructure needs with the applicable state entities
• Iinterview, recommendation, selection and management of all specialty consultants covering air emissions, water emissions, water use, groundwater (well) and environmental permits

This unique building configuration provides the client with a ‘quicker to market' solution and lower day one capital costs.

• Developed economical mechanical and electrical systems that have the least amount of impact on the existing building structure avoiding costly reinforcement of the existing structure and a longer schedule.
• Constructing the exterior foundations and underground site utilities during the winter.
• Sequencing the delivery of major pieces of outside mechanical and electrical equipment with the exterior work due to tight sight constraints.
• Developing economical construction solutions to get the major pieces of outside mechanical and electrical equipment above the 500 year flood plain.
• Utilized the undeveloped warehouse space to pre-fabricate mechanical and electrical utilities for server racks for quick installation. Quality control and production was greatly improved due to “shop fabrication” in lieu of “field fabrication” techniques.
• Utilized very detailed field coordinated BIM technology cad drawings to maintain high level of quality control between all trades improving quality and production.

The building shell is structural steel with pre-cast concrete panels. The site was overexcavated six feet below the finished floor to make room for 46 miles of underground conduit and 45,000 cubic yards of lean concrete backfill which will support this critical facility. Inside DPR built-out the infrastructure down to the remote power panels. A static UPS system with diesel generators provide the back-up power source.

This Confidential Software Provider joins a growing list of technology companies drawn to Quincy, a small farming town near the Columbia River in Grant County with a population just over 5,300. The town is attractive for its abundant land, inexpensive cheap power from the Columbia River and network of fiber optic cable lines.

Phase II and III have 67,000 sq. ft. of raised floor at 150 watts/sq. ft. with a 14MW Critical Load. Modular chilled water plant cooling system with custom AHU’s and proprietary rack cooling system, N+1.

This Global Content Provider joins a growing list of technology companies drawn to Quincy, a small farming town near the Columbia River in Grant County with a population just over 5,300. The town is attractive for its abundant land, cheap hydroelectric power from the Columbia River and network of fiber optic cable lines.

The project completed in March of 2007.