Senior Living & Assisted Living
Senior living straddles a fault line: it reads like hospitality, but a wing of it carries care, defend-in-place egress, and residents who can't self-evacuate. We deliver construction-ready MEP that holds resident comfort, keeps care and life safety powered through an outage, and answers to the occupancy classification your building actually falls under — behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
Comfort and Dignity, Engineered for Defend-in-Place.
The defining question is which code your building lives under: independent and assisted living run as I-1 or R-4 residential-care, but secured memory care and skilled nursing tip into I-2 institutional, where ASHRAE 170 ventilation, smoke compartments, and a defend-in-place egress strategy govern. We design across that line — anti-scald tempered water for frail skin, Legionella-aware hot-water plants, and standby power sized to the right NFPA risk category — as production design support behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
HVAC, Ventilation & Air Quality
Comfort tuned for frail residents on the assisted side, ASHRAE 170 ventilation where the care level demands it.
- Resident-room and common-area comfort with humidity control for an older, less-mobile, thermally sensitive population
- ASHRAE 170 air-change rates and pressure relationships in skilled-nursing and memory-care spaces governed by FGI Residential
- Whisper-quiet fan-coil and PTAC selection so equipment doesn't disturb sleep or agitate memory-care residents
- Corridor and unit pressurization to keep cooking, soiled-utility, and bathing odors out of resident areas
- Dedicated exhaust for soiled-utility, bathing, central-laundry, and commercial-kitchen spaces per the IMC
- Smoke-control and HVAC shutdown coordination for the defend-in-place smoke compartments in I-2 areas
Electrical & Standby Power
Power sized to the emergency-power category the care level sets — not the marketing brochure.
- Standby and emergency power per NFPA 110, with the NFPA 99 emergency-power category set by the facility risk classification
- Essential branch coverage for life-safety, elevators, egress lighting, and resident-care equipment
- Resident-room and corridor lighting with controls tuned for aging eyes and night wayfinding
- Nurse-call, wander-management, and access-control power and pathways roughed in for the vendor systems
- Fire-alarm coordination per NFPA 72 across resident wings and smoke compartments
- Generator and fuel sizing for the extended outages where residents shelter in place
Plumbing & Domestic Hot Water
Tempered, accessible water that protects frail skin without handing Legionella a warm reservoir.
- ASSE 1070-listed thermostatic mixing for anti-scald water at resident fixtures (typically 105-110F)
- Hot-water plant stored and distributed hot per ASHRAE 188 Legionella guidance, then tempered down at the point of use
- Recirculation balanced so the farthest resident bath isn't the coldest — and isn't a stagnant branch
- ADA and accessible roll-in shower, lavatory, and water-closet rough-in throughout
- Commercial kitchen, central-laundry, and bathing-room plumbing sized for real daily care loads
- Domestic water provisions supporting the operator's CMS-required Water Management Program
Life Safety, Egress & Resident Care
Coordinated for daily care, secured wandering residents, and the fire event where they shelter rather than flee.
- Defend-in-place egress, smoke-barrier, and fire-alarm coordination across resident wings per NFPA 101 / IBC
- Delayed-egress and access-controlled hardware integrated with fire alarm for secured memory-care units
- Nurse-call and resident-monitoring power and pathways coordinated with the vendor system
- Anti-ligature device and rough-in considerations where behavioral or dementia care requires them
- Accessible-design coordination across MEP fixtures, controls, and clearances
- Daily kitchen, dining, bathing, and laundry loads engineered for real occupancy, not nameplate
Energy, Resiliency & Operating Cost
Communities run 24/7 for decades — every inefficiency is a fixed cost the operator carries.
- ASHRAE 90.1 / IECC compliance with envelope-coordinated load calculations
- Heat-pump and electrification-ready selections aligned with local ordinances
- Domestic hot-water and laundry heat-recovery evaluated for the round-the-clock load
- Right-sized equipment to avoid stranded capacity and short-cycling in low-occupancy wings
- Submetering and BAS strategies for ongoing operations and benchmarking
- Outage-resilient design so heating, cooling, and care continue when residents can't leave
Quick answers about how we deliver design support for this sector.
It comes down to occupancy classification, and that drives the whole design. Independent and assisted living typically run as I-1 or R-4 residential-care, but secured memory care and skilled nursing often tip into I-2 institutional, where ASHRAE 170 ventilation, smoke compartments, and a defend-in-place egress strategy apply. We confirm the classification with your architect and the AHJ up front, then design each wing to the standard it actually falls under — so a CCRC with mixed care levels gets the right basis in every building, behind your seal.
Yes — standby and emergency power per NFPA 110, with the emergency-power category set by the NFPA 99 facility risk classification rather than a default. The essential branch covers life-safety, egress lighting, elevators, fire alarm, and resident-care equipment, and we size the generator and fuel for the extended outages where residents shelter in place instead of evacuating. We document the load basis so the licensed engineer of record on your project can review it quickly.
They pull in opposite directions, and that tension is the heart of senior-living hot water. Legionella guidance (ASHRAE 188, and the CMS water management requirement your operator carries) wants water stored and distributed hot, while frail residents need anti-scald water at the fixture. We resolve it by keeping the plant and distribution hot, then tempering down at the point of use with ASSE 1070-listed thermostatic mixing valves to a safe 105-110F — and balancing recirculation so no branch goes stagnant.
Yes. We rough in the power and pathways for the nurse-call, resident-monitoring, and wander-management vendor systems and coordinate them with the electrical and life-safety design. For secured memory-care units, we integrate delayed-egress and access-controlled hardware with the fire-alarm system per NFPA 101, so the doors hold residents safely yet release on alarm. The vendor supplies the head-end; we make sure the building is ready for it.
For the care side, the FGI Guidelines for Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities and ASHRAE 170 govern ventilation in nursing and memory-care spaces, with NFPA 101 and the IBC setting occupancy (I-1, I-2, or R-4) and defend-in-place egress. Standby power follows NFPA 110 and NFPA 99, hot water follows ASSE 1070 and ASHRAE 188, energy follows ASHRAE 90.1 and the IECC, and accessibility follows the ADA and ICC A117.1 — plus your state's assisted-living and residential-care licensing requirements.
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