The challenge was in converting the 20-year-old, 62,000-sf facility constructed to suit the specialized needs of the petroleum industry into an updated general chemistry laboratory. The new facility accommodates six research laboratory groups encompassing a wide variety of industrial, chemical, and technical service operations. Each lab group utilizes a variety of potentially hazardous chemicals and requires specialized utilities including hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, de-ionized water, natural gas, steam, compressed air, and vacuum.

The retrofit required adding fume hoods, modifying bench-top services, modifying HVAC, mechanical, and electrical systems, and upgrading architectural details.

The facility design includes an administrative plan for controlling the types and quantities of the chemicals in each lab, involving designated control areas for chemical storage, use, and disposal. The plan coordinates Solutia's practices and protocols, keeping them consistent with local, state, and federal codes.

Project Information
Building Owner:		Solutia Inc.
Owner Contact:		Kent Vesvick, Technical Team Leader; Dave Baumgartner, Project Manager
Building Location:		Webster Groves, MO UNITED STATES
Project Type:		Renovation
Principal Building Function:		R&D
Project Delivery Method:		Design/Build
Project Timeline		Feb 1998 Planning Start Aug 1998 Design Start Dec 1998 Construction Start May 1999 Target Completion
Project Cost:		$6,000,000
Construction Cost:		$4,700,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$77
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Laboratory: Chemistry R&D
Total GSF:		62,000
Total NSF:		38,400
Efficiency:		62%
Building Population:		100
People Density:		620 gsf/person
Building Services:		DI, N2, compressed air, gas, H, steam, vacuum, CW
Special Equip:		pH pretreatment facility, discharged water pH is automatically monitored and treated if necessary
Office Size:		10' 6" x 7' 6" NSF
Structure/Foundation:		Concrete foundations, beam, and slab
Laboratory Parameters
Lab Module:		10' 6" x 23' 6"
Casework Mat'l:		Acid-resistant countertops and casework
Fume Hoods:		96 fume hoods; 79 6' wide bench tops; 17 6' x 7' walk-ins
Project Team
Architect		Flad Architects
Builder		McCarthy Building Companies Inc.
Programming		McCarthy Building Companies Inc.
Supplier - Casework		Fisher Hamilton
Supplier - Fume Hoods		Fisher Hamilton
Profile Created 03/01/2000
Last Updated 04/04/2006
About the Reported Cost Figures The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments. Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.