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 prepare MEP design, under the direction and seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project, designed to keep residents comfortable, keep care and life-safety systems powered through the design outage, and match the occupancy classification your building actually falls under.
Comfort and Dignity, Engineered for Defend-in-Place.
The defining question is which code your building lives under. Independent living typically runs as R-2, and assisted living as I-1 or R-4 residential-care (R-4 covers more than 5 and up to 16 residents, excluding staff; above 16 is I-1), while skilled nursing and memory care providing 24-hour medical care to more than five residents who can't self-evacuate fall under I-2 institutional, where healthcare ventilation (ASHRAE 170 where adopted), 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 applicable loads and essential-electrical requirements, with NFPA 99 risk categories established where required. We deliver it 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 and adopted code require it.
- Resident-room and common-area comfort with humidity control for an older, less-mobile, thermally sensitive population
- Air-change rates and pressure relationships in skilled-nursing and memory-care spaces per the state-adopted FGI Residential Guidelines and ventilation code — ASHRAE 170 where adopted (FGI 2022 includes it; FGI 2018 does not)
- Low-noise fan-coil and PTAC selection matched to the project's acoustic targets, so equipment is less likely to disturb sleep or agitate memory-care residents
- Corridor and unit pressurization to limit cooking, soiled-utility, and bathing odors reaching resident areas
- Dedicated exhaust for soiled-utility, bathing, central-laundry, and commercial-kitchen spaces per the IMC
- Smoke-damper and HVAC shutdown coordination for the defend-in-place smoke compartments in I-2 areas
Electrical & Standby Power
Power sized to the emergency, standby, or essential electrical system the care level and codes require.
- Standby and emergency power per NFPA 110, with the essential electrical system type, where NFPA 99 applies, selected from the risk categories of the care spaces served
- Where required, essential electrical system branches covering life-safety loads such as egress lighting and fire alarm, with elevator and resident-care loads assigned to the appropriate branches
- Resident-room and corridor lighting with controls tuned for aging eyes and night wayfinding
- Nurse-call, wander-management, and access-control power and pathways designed for the vendor systems
- Fire-alarm coordination per NFPA 72 across resident wings and smoke compartments
- Generator and fuel sizing for the outage duration the owner and adopted codes require, where residents shelter in place
Plumbing & Domestic Hot Water
Tempered, accessible water that protects frail skin without handing Legionella a warm reservoir.
- ASSE 1070 temperature-limiting devices at lavatories and tubs and ASSE 1016 valves at showers, for anti-scald water at resident fixtures (typically 105–110°F)
- Hot-water plant stored and distributed hot (a typical storage target is 140°F or higher), with temperatures set through the operator's ASHRAE 188 water management program, then tempered down at the point of use
- Recirculation balanced across the loops so the farthest resident bath isn't the coldest, with uncirculated fixture branches kept short to limit stagnation
- ADA and accessible roll-in shower, lavatory, and water-closet rough-in where the program and codes call for it
- Commercial kitchen, central-laundry, and bathing-room plumbing sized for real daily care loads
- Domestic water provisions supporting the operator's water management program — CMS-required in certified skilled-nursing and hospital wings, state-licensing or ASHRAE 188-driven in assisted and independent living
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 or controlled-egress locking 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, with NEC demand factors applied to nameplate ratings
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 sized to the owner's specified outage duration, heating and cooling loads, and care-continuity requirements
It comes down to occupancy classification, and that drives the whole design. Independent living typically runs as R-2, and assisted living as I-1 or R-4 residential-care, while skilled nursing and memory care providing 24-hour medical care to more than five residents who can't self-evacuate fall under I-2 institutional, where healthcare ventilation (ASHRAE 170 where adopted), smoke compartments, and a defend-in-place egress strategy apply. We confirm the classification with your architect and engineer of record up front, then design each wing to the standard it actually falls under — so a CCRC with mixed care levels is designed to the applicable basis for each building, behind your seal.
Yes — standby and emergency power per NFPA 110, with the essential electrical system type, where NFPA 99 applies, selected from the risk categories of the care spaces rather than a default. Its branches cover life-safety loads such as egress lighting and fire alarm, with elevator and resident-care loads assigned to the appropriate branches, and we size the generator and fuel for the outage duration the owner and adopted codes require, 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 water management program your operator carries — CMS-required where the wing is Medicare- or Medicaid-certified, ASHRAE 188 and state licensing elsewhere) commonly uses hot storage and distribution as a control (a typical storage target is 140°F or higher), 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 devices at lavatories and tubs and ASSE 1016 valves at showers, to a typical 105–110°F — and balancing recirculation across the loops and keeping uncirculated fixture branches short to limit stagnation.
Yes. We design 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 or controlled-egress locking with the fire-alarm system per the IBC and NFPA 101, so the doors hold residents and release as the adopted code requires. 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 where adopted, with the IBC (I-1, I-2, or R-4) and NFPA 101 setting occupancy and defend-in-place egress. Standby power follows NFPA 110 and, where healthcare requirements apply, NFPA 99; hot water follows ASSE 1016, 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.