The Walsh Group
The Walsh Group
Chicago, IL
As the largest construction firm in Chicago, The Walsh Group consolidated several of their construction groups into a new 100,000 square foot building adjacent to their existing headquarters. McGuire Engineers (MEPC) designed the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and lighting of the new office space to be bother sustainable and obtain Walsh’s goal of LEED Platinum. status. As part of the design services, Walsh retained MEPC to create an energy model for submission to USGBC that would evaluate the overall performance of the building and estimate the energy saving measures compared to ASHRAE’s 2004 standards.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Energy Modeling, LEED Design and Lighting Design
ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
- Using Revit®, a BIM software design tool, allowed for extensive conflict resolution before the project went to bid.
- Created a lighting model using AGi32, a lighting design software package, to evaluate daylight harvesting and light shelves which demonstrated that the light shelves intended to project daylight into the office spaces would not be cost effective, saving the client much time and money at the front end.
- Created an energy model for submission to USGBC that evaluated the overall performance of the building and estimated the energy saving measures compared to ASHRAE’s 2004 standards.
This renovation is projected to achieve 53.6% annual energy cost savings. The use of energy monitoring and energy feedback visualization will demonstrate the economic impact of sustainability.
- Other innovative aspects of the project included:
- SolarDuct thermal technology to preheat the building’s outdoor air
- Integration of a green roof and a rainwater harvesting system
- Highly efficient HVAC system
- Efficient lighting
