On Wednesday, July 21, we joined Palmer & Sicard, Inc. as they celebrated the opening of their new facility in Exeter, NH. We have worked alongside Palmer & Sicard on numerous projects, including the recently completed $24.6 million Hampton Academy renovation and addition, and when it was time for the company to explore options for a new home office building, they approached the Turner Group to partner on the project. At the time, their original space didn't meet their needs or support future growth, so we worked with the to design a facility that would empower their entire team.

The new building is 26,000 square feet, including 19,000 square feet of mechanical shop space and 7,000 square feet of offices and meeting rooms. The configuration of spaces positively transformed employee workflow, and now enables the company to host trainings and events with area groups such as I Build New Hampshire. 

The vast majority of those who contributed to this project were members of the Association of Builders and Contractors (ABC-VT/NH). We are proud to have contributed architectural design and structural engineering services to Palmer & Sicard, and look forward to seeing their continued growth in their new home. 

Tom Betteridge, P.E., Vice President and Mechanical Engineer with Turner Building Science & Design, LLC, was recently featured in an article in Business NH Magazine titled, "Engineering the Air We Breathe" by Judi Currie. 

Here's an excerpt:

From the time a heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system is installed to the end of its useful lifespan, some building owners may never give that system a second thought other than to change the filters, unless it breaks down... or there's a pandemic.

...It's not uncommon to find the ventilation units within heating and cooling systems bringing in little to no outside air, says Tom Betteridge, P.E., principal and Vice President of  Turner Building Science & Design in Concord. It's an easy fix in some cases by just opening a damper or changing a setting in the control system. He adds that often the building owner or occupant is surprised to learn they were not ventilating their building.

"We had one client who mentioned that they used to feel lethargic in the afternoon, and they thought it was just people getting tired" says Betteridge. After they provided proper ventilation, CO2 was no longer building up in the space, and people felt better.

The possibility of a buildup of virus particles raises the stakes. "Looking at how the current pandemic is spread, increasing the ventilation air--the clean air that's brought in and then exhausted out of the space--seems to be one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. That's been our main focus," says Betteridge. "Our secondary focus has been on increasing the filtration levels so that you can filter out the virus particles from the air that remains in the space."

The full article is available in the April 2021 issue of Business NH Magazine.

The H. L. Turner Group is excited to partner with the Town of Allenstown, NH on its new elementary-middle school project, which was just approved by town vote last month. The project will benefit the community for many years to come, and we're looking forward to helping design and bring to life an educational facility that is functional, inspiring, and enduring.

On March 10, 2021, the Concord Monitor officially announced the approval of the project:

"At stake on Election Day was a bold plan to close the two antiquated [Allenstown] schools in town - Armand Dupont and Allenstown Elementary - and consolidate them into a yet-to-be-built school, serving kindergarten through 8th grade.

"Just past 7 p.m., soon after the polls had closed, those gathered received word that, by an overwhelming vote of 480 to 261, Allenstown's educational landscape would soon undergo a giant facelift. 

"...Article 1 on the school ballot for this SB2 town sought $32.5 million to buy 59 acres on River Road and build a brand new school there, a process that will take about 18 months."

The H.L. Turner Group's Paul Becht, PE, recently gave an interview to Hydro Leader Magazine about how he innovated a solution for a renewable energy challenge at Noone Mills Hydroelectric Facility in Peterborough, NH.

The Noone Falls Mill hydroelectric project was owned by Marty Greco, who completed several upgrades, but needed additional expertise to help him tackle the penstock. The penstock dated back more than a century, and it ran under a road and along the foundation of several buildings with decks, making it difficult to reach. Becht was able to develop an effective structural engineering approach that was both time- and budget-conscious. In addition, the project had support from the local municipality and from FERC.

"FERC was very receptive to this project," explains Becht. "The engineers at FERC had limited experience with HOBAS pipe, but based on the information that [we] and HOBAS supplied, FERC completed its review and authorized construction in an extremely tight time frame to allow [the crew] to get started. Normally, it would take about three months for review and approval. I think we got approval in about three weeks."

To read the entire interview, click: https://bit.ly/3b6Xoed

H.L. Turner Group affiliate Turner Building Science & Design's (TBS) Steve Caulfield, PE, spoke with the Concord Monitor's Granite Geek David Brooks, to explore approaches to protect against COVID.

With a growing need to improve indoor air quality for businesses across the nation due to the COVID-19 virus, Caulfield, a Certified Industrial Hygienist with over 30 years of experience, and the other mechanical engineers at TBS have been busy performing building evaluations and developing solutions to provide safer and cleaner indoor spaces.

“We’re seeing a lot of people trying to increase the amount of air replacement, the air change rate. The problem we run up against is the engineering problem that on a hot day your system is only designed to cool so much outside air. Beyond that you either raise the temperature or humidity in the space, or both,” Caulfield said. “You can’t just go to every building and open every outside air damper.”

As David Brooks explains, this same complication comes up with air filters. Air filters are calibrated on the MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) scale, with bigger numbers removing smaller-sized particles.  Most buildings have filters that are rated as MERV 8, but as Caulfield points out, “it’s not until you get to about a MERV 13 that you start removing 90% or more of virus-sized particles.”

Unfortunately, a MERV 13 filter generally won’t fit into the designated filter space, and the tighter filter puts an additional burden on motors.  As Brooks points out, the added work could burn out motors and will certainly reduce airflow, allowing viruses to build up – the exact opposite of what you want.

For over 30 years, the professionals at TBS have been working to understand the complicated yet delicate nature of balancing HVAC design and system controls to optimize indoor air quality.  To find out how to improve the air quality in your building, contact our experts.  

To read the entire interview, click: https://bit.ly/334m6cH