Designer Solicitations - New Residence Hall 1 Building Envelope and MEP Commissioning

Designer Solicitations – New Residence Hall 1 Building Envelope and MEP Commissioning

Project NameNew Residence Hall 1 Building Envelope and MEP CommissioningType of ServicesCommissioningProject ManagerQuade T GallagherPhone Number(984) 484-4113Contact Email quadeg@unc.edu Closing Date11/21/2025Project Budget$101,000,000.00Project Description

To address increasing enrollment and the need to expand existing housing stock, UNC Chapel Hill seeks to build a two new undergraduate residence hall on its main campus primarily focused on sophomore students. The new buildings will be sited on the North Recreation Complex and Jackson Hall sites on main campus and are currently known as the West and East Buildings, respectively. Each building will be five stories. The West Building will be approximately 103,640 GSF and contain approximately 441 beds, 92% being double rooms and 8% being single rooms. The East Building will be approximately 70,900 GSF and contain approximately 303 beds, 88% being double rooms and 12% being single rooms.

Both buildings will contain lounges and social spaces throughout. The West building will have a centralized package center that will serve all residence halls in the area as well as an open kitchen and seating area for students.

The buildings will be fed by campus utilities which include steam, chilled water, and electrical. The buildings will be served by multiple semi-custom Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) units. Rooms, lobby, social, and amenity spaces will be conditioned with four pipe Fan Coil Units (FCUs). Lighting controls will follow UNC Design Guidelines and Carolina Housing standards and norms. The envelope will be primarily ventilated brick rain-screen system with full bed cavity wall with loose lintels at punched openings and relieving angles as required. 1” air gap with 4” of semi-rigid rock wool on the exterior side of an impermeable air-vapor barrier (AVB). The AVB will be applied to sheathing on a perimeter stud wall. Under windows there will be alternative assemblies likely containing metal paneling, but this is still in design.

The deadline for owner move-in is by end of June 2028. Currently, the project is in the Schematic Design phase with the design team’s deliverables for owner review by October 20th, 2025. The project delivery method is Construction Manager at Risk (CMR). The project will have two construction phases, the first of which is the Early Site package containing demolition, utility, and site grading work with the goal of starting that work by mid-summer 2026. The second of which will be the Full Building package containing the rest of the structure and project scope.

The Designer of Record is Clark Nexsen and Clark Nexen is the consulting MEP engineer of record.

The MEP Commissioning Provider (MEP CxP) will be responsible for commissioning the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to validate that the performance that these systems meet the design intent requirements for the project.

The mechanical and HVAC equipment to be commissioned will include the following.

• Four AHUs (DOAS) about 13,000 cfm each
• About 730 four pipe FCUs
• Four steam to hot water heat exchangers and associated pumps.
• Other equipment to be commissioned includes the emergency generator and related electrical components, lighting controls, plumbing fixtures and related components.

As noted, steam and chilled water services will be provided to the project by campus Energy Services and will not be part of the MEP Cx scope.

The Building Enclosure Commissioning Provider (BECxP) will contractually be under the MEP CxP and submittal information will be part of a common RFQ submittal. The BECx commissioning services will include the following.

• Commissioning services during the design phases including drawing and specification reviews and provide the project’s enclosure commissioning specifications.
• Commissioning service during the construction and acceptance phase, including on-site inspections and performance testing of the building’s enclosure to verify the design intent has been met. List the proposed building enclosure testing firm to be used if testing is not done with in-house BECx testing personnel.
• Final inspection during the warranty period and provide final commissioning documentation.

The Commissioning Provider will provide complete building commissioning services to comply with the Performance standard for Sustainable, Energy-Efficient Public Buildings (Article 8C) per North Carolina GS 143 – 135.35 through .40. Scope of work includes:

Providing and maintaining a commissioning plan and Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) throughout the project.

• Commissioning services during the various design phases including drawing and specification reviews and providing the project’s commissioning specifications.
• Commissioning service during the construction phase including onsite inspections.
• Commissioning services during the project acceptance phase, including performance testing of the building’s systems to verify the design intent has been met.
• Commissioning services during the occupancy and warranty period of the project, assisting in the M&V of the building’s energy performance and providing a final commissioning report and manual.

All commissioning activities will need to meet the requirements of LEED Version 5.0 Eap3 Fundamental Commissioning prerequisite and EAc5 Enhanced Commissioning.

The CxP will be contractually obligated to the Owner and will become a member of the Project Team. The Cx contract will be negotiated with the CxP in two parts. Part one of the contract starts with the review of the Schematic Design Documents and ends up with the completion of the project bidding process. The second part for scope and costs will then be finalized for the construction and occupancy phases of commissioning.

Project Brief (opens PDF in new window)

Submit Letters of Interest and Current SF-330 to:

The electronic copy is to be emailed or submitted through a file share link to:

Quade T Gallagher, AIA (he/him)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Architect, Capital Project Manager

quadeg@unc.edu

Advertisement Type: Designer Solicitations