Volusia County Branch Jail Air Handler-Fire Suppression System Removal, Replacement and Upgrade

The Volusia County Branch Jail at 1300 Red John Drive, Daytona Beach, Florida requires a comprehensive replacement and upgrade of its existing air handling unit (AHU) infrastructure, fire/smoke damper systems, and related fire suppression controls. The facility is a single-story correctional facility operated by Volusia County Government.

The facility's current HVAC configuration lacks the ability to isolate individual pods during a smoke or contamination event, and the existing fire/smoke dampers have reached the end of their serviceable life. The existing building automation and controls system is similarly obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer. This project addresses all of these deficiencies with a coordinated replacement and upgrade program across mechanical, controls, and fire/life safety systems.

The Volusia County Branch Jail is a single-story correctional facility owned and operated by Volusia County Government, located at 1300 Red John Drive, Daytona Beach, Florida 32724. The facility operates continuously and is organized around multiple individual housing pods, each served by dedicated chilled water air handling units (AHUs), supply exhaust fans, and interconnected ductwork routed through fire- and smoke-rated wall and floor assemblies. Over time, the facility's major building systems have reached or exceeded their useful service lives simultaneously. The existing AHUs require full replacement, with existing HVAC electrical and fire alarm connections to be demolished back to their points of origin. All fire/smoke dampers installed throughout the facility in rated partitions, shaft walls, and floor/slab penetrations are at end of life and no longer reliable. The building automation system — an existing Compass Controls platform — is obsolete, unsupported by the manufacturer, and cannot be maintained, patched, or expanded to integrate new equipment. Multiple damper relay panels throughout the facility contain damaged or corroded components, and the existing smoke control configuration lacks per-pod isolation capability, meaning the system cannot isolate or independently purge a single housing pod during a smoke event.

Compounding these mechanical deficiencies, the facility's existing fire alarm system does not comply with current code requirements for a detention facility — including the Florida Fire Prevention Code 7th Edition, NFPA 72, NFPA 101 Chapter 23, and UL 864 9th Edition — and is not capable of supporting the Class A redundant fiber optic loop communication architecture required by the new design. Volusia County Facilities Management has engaged Above Group Engineering & Consulting (mechanical engineer of record) and Dewberry Architects Inc. (architect of record) to design a comprehensive, coordinated replacement of all affected systems. The project addresses each deficiency in a single construction effort: full replacement of all fire/smoke dampers with new UL 555/555S-rated corrosion-resistant units; complete AHU replacement with integration into a new Compass Controls BAS; a new fully addressable, networked fire alarm system with per-pod Local Fire Alarm Control Panels and redundant fiber optic loops; and smoke control system upgrades providing independent per-pod isolation and purge capability. All work will be executed within the occupied, operational correctional facility with full fire watch coordination, phased AHU replacement supported by temporary cooling equipment, and close coordination with facility security staff throughout construction.