Aircuity helps build energy efficient facilities at Texas Children’s Hospital

Mar 28 2017

“Healthy” Demand Control Ventilation continuously monitors critical IEQ factors and informs building ventilation control systems so that appropriate levels of fresh air can be provided at all times.

Texas Children’s Hospital is an internationally recognized full-care pediatric hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. One of the largest pediatric hospitals in the United States, the hospital is dedicated to providing the finest possible pediatric patient care, education and research.

In 2006 local Aircuity representative, Vicon Equipment introduced Texas Children’s to Aircuity. They initially chose to implement the Aircuity platform to improve energy efficiency in its newly developed Feigin Center, an eight-story vertical expansion project, specifically designed for the advancement of pediatric medicine. The expansion added 200,000 square feet of space for research labs, clinical research offices, GMP space for gene therapies, a simulation center, expanded vivarium along with an animal imaging center, and earned Texas Children’s Hospital an honorable mention in R&D Magazine’s 2010 Laboratory of Year competition.

Building upon the energy savings achieved at the Feigin Center, Texas Children’s hospital designed Aircuity into a new state-of-the-art research facility. The 13-story, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) building was completed in 2010 and is home to 20 principal investigators leading multi-disciplinary teams of 185 scientists and includes two levels of energy efficient animal care facilities.

In recent years Aircuity’s installation in the Feigin Center was expanded twice- once in 2012 and again in 2014. Texas Children’s is also currently evaluating installations in the Feigin Center and the Neurological Research Institute. Through the multiple Aircuity installations on Texas Children’s campus, the hospital is saving approximately $231,000 annually.

The NRI also earned the TurnKey Facility of the Year Award, based on its outstanding achievements in the design and construction of their animal laboratory. Aircuity’s demand control ventilation technology was applauded for its innovation and significant energy savings that it is providing the Neurological Research Institute.

“The Neurological Research Institute was built to bring a collaborative group of scientists together under one roof to make greater strides in addressing pediatric neurological disorders”, explained Jill Pearsall, director facilities planning & development at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Facilities have become as complex as the research that goes on within them. Putting together the right team and aligning them with the same vision and goals is critical to the success of a project and the environments created by it for years to come. Having specialists like Aircuity and Techniplast as a part of this team was key to getting it right.”