Facility Engineering - HVAC (Mechanical), Electrical, Plumbing (MEP) and Structural

I really enjoy this community and love the buzz surrounding it. I’m not seeing a lot of discussion around facility Engineering. Specifically around HVAC (Mechanical), Electrical Plumbing and Structural Engineering for permits for indoor cultivation, extraction, manufacturing & retail. My firm (www.winstonengineeringllc.com/cannabis) has completed projects for all of them.

I want to be add value to this community and assist folks in making their dreams come true. If you have any specific questions surrounding facility Engineering, please chime in. If I don’t know the answer, I guarantee someone in the community will or I can reach out to vast network.

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Thanks for offering to help! We are always looking for new talking points and engaging posts! Thanks for bringing this up and please start those conversations. We are a growing community and we rely on each other to make this a lively party!

Let me ask you a question, @WinstonEngineering: what would you say is the most commonly overlooked aspects of compliant facilities design and deployment?

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@Growernick the major issue upfront are power limitations. Quite often growers select an existing building to later find out they don’t have enough power. Upgrading a power system can be time consuming and costly.

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Interesting and true! I think a lot of people look at a warehouse in an industrial district zoned for cultivateion and falsely assume that building has the same power as the neighbors…I’ve been participant to power upgrades in an active cultivation facility. There can be a lot of terrifying moments, setbacks and problems that arise during the upgrade while the power is down!

With new construction, I’ve found two of the most commonly overlooked aspects are drains in floors in cultivation rooms (lifesaver!!!) and fire suppression systems. There is nothing worse than the fire marshal coming through the newly finished bright and shiny cultivation rooms, looking up and asking that question: “where are your sprinklers?” Have you ever experienced this?

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We don’t do fire suppression but I’ve been cc’d on MANY emails about that same discussion. Another issue is that the owners may not perform enough due diligence and later find out that the water supply pressure isn’t high enough for the fire suppression system!

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