New Mecklenburg Middle / High School
Mecklenburg County Public Schools, VA

A new era begins!  Read more about the new Mecklenburg County High / Middle School complex here.

PACE engineers are proud to have provided MEP design services for a new 370,000 SF High School/Middle School for Mecklenburg County Public Schools, Virginia. The school will consolidate all of the existing middle and high schools throughout the county and will accommodate 2800 students. Each school has its own support spaces including gymnasiums, cafeterias, media center, band classrooms, vocational technology workshops, and administration spaces. There is a common use auditorium and the surface parking/bus areas for use by both schools.

The mechanical design includes a 23 4-pipe VAV rooftop and indoor air handling units. The central utility plant (CUP) includes chillers, cooling towers, boilers, pumps, booster pump, water heaters, and a propane tank farm.

The electrical design includes services to the main school building, the central utility plant, and exterior athletic facilities. The electrical service to the main building is 5000A, 480/277 volts, 3 phase, 4 wire with dry type transformers used for the utilization system of 208-120 volts, 3 phase, 4 wire. The electrical service for the main school building has a 300kW stand-by generator that will service the fire pump, life safety and refrigeration loads that require back up power. The electrical service for the central utility plant is 2500A, 480/277 volts, 3 phase, 4 wire that services the chillers and pumps associated with the HVAC systems that feed the main school building. The athletic facilities have individual services ranging from 300A to 1200A, 480/277 volts, 3 phase, 4 wire that serve the stadium, concessions facilities, and high mast field sports lighting. All lighting is LED and the lighting controls comply with the energy code with dimming and occupancy controls. The sports field lighting is LED and suitable for High School League play.

The fire alarm is a networked automatic voice evacuation addressable system with active smoke detection and passive manual station capability. Upon alarm, the system activates an automatic voice message that alerts building occupants to evacuate the building and automatically calls the central station to summon the fire department. The system includes a full voice system override that allows school personnel and emergency responders to give on-site specific information over the speaker system. It monitors other critical system activations, such as the automatic sprinkler system and kitchen hood system releases. The system controls the building heating, ventilating, and cooling system to shut down in an emergency condition and activates smoke dampers to maintain the passive smoke wall integrity.

This project also includes athletic facilities for each school including two concessions buildings at the main football field and baseball field, as well as other restroom outbuildings.