Warehouse & Cold Storage
Warehouse MEP rewards simple, robust, low-operating-cost systems that work around racking, conveyors, and dock lines. Add a cold envelope and the rules change: now the slab can heave, the sprinklers must run dry, and a refrigerant leak is a life-safety event the building has to answer for.
High Bays, Cold Envelopes, Dock-to-Stock Flow.
A dry warehouse is an envelope and a power problem; a cold-storage box is a thermodynamics problem wrapped in a code problem. We design the high-bay heating and ventilation, the racking- and automation-aware power, and the drainage these facilities run on — then handle what cold adds: under-slab heave protection, vapor-barrier-coordinated insulated envelopes, dry/preaction fire-protection basis, and machine-room ventilation around the refrigeration plant, sealed by the licensed engineer of record on your project.
High-Bay HVAC & Ventilation
Robust, low-cost conditioning for large open volumes and the docks that breathe.
- High-bay gas-fired or hydronic heating with destratification fans to recover stratified ceiling heat
- Mechanical or gravity ventilation and summer heat relief sized to the occupancy classification
- Dock-door infiltration and freeze protection carried into the heating-load calculation
- Forklift battery-charging exhaust and lithium-ion off-gas ventilation per NFPA 1 and NFPA 855
- Office, pick-module, and break-area comfort conditioning zoned off the warehouse block
Cold-Storage Envelope & Freeze Protection
The thermodynamics and frost control that separate a freezer box from a warehouse.
- Under-slab heating — glycol loops or self-regulating heat cable, ~1.5–2.5 BTU/hr·ft² — to stop frost heave below freezers
- Vapor-barrier and insulated-panel coordination kept on the warm side so the assembly doesn't internally frost
- Cooler, freezer, dock, and anteroom temperature zones with air-curtain and infiltration strategy
- Refrigeration heat-rejection, condensate, and defrost-drain routing with trace heating
- Building MEP coordinated around the refrigeration designer's evaporator and piping layout
Refrigeration Plant & Machine-Room Support
We design the building systems the ammonia or CO2 plant depends on — the plant itself is a specialty scope.
- Machine-room normal ventilation (0.5 cfm/ft² plus heat-removal airflow) and emergency exhaust (~30 ACH for ammonia) per IMC Ch. 11 / ASHRAE 15
- Ammonia detection that alarms and starts emergency ventilation at 150 ppm, with automatic equipment shutdown at the detector’s upper setpoint per IIAR 2
- Emergency power, lighting, and disconnects for refrigeration compressors, pumps, and purge
- Ammonia/CO2 refrigeration plant designed to IIAR 2 by the refrigeration engineer — we design the building MEP around it
- Make-up air, drainage, and electrical service coordinated to the plant's connected load
Electrical, Power & Automation
Power and lighting matched to fulfillment density, MHE, and a phased automation roadmap.
- High-bay LED lighting to IES warehouse illuminance with aisle-occupancy and daylight-harvesting controls
- Service and distribution sized with diversified MHE/conveyor load and documented expansion headroom
- Power and controls pathways roughed in for conveyors, sortation, and ASRS automation
- EV truck, yard-tractor, and forklift charging infrastructure planned with the utility
- Short-circuit, coordination, and arc-flash studies per IEEE 1584 and NFPA 70E with field labeling
Plumbing, Drainage & Fire-Protection Basis
Process water, slab drainage, and the wet/dry sprinkler basis the system is built on.
- Trench, hub, and sanitary-floor drainage routed clear of rack-post and conveyor footings
- Wash-down, sanitation, and food-grade process water with backflow (RPZ) protection
- Fire-protection design basis coordinated: wet for coolers, dry-pipe and double-interlock preaction for freezers
- ESFR vs. in-rack sprinkler strategy aligned with storage height and commodity class per NFPA 13
- Gas piping for unit heaters and process equipment; freeze protection on any wet line in a cold zone
Quick answers about how we deliver design support for this sector.
We design the full building MEP and the cold-specific scope — under-slab freeze protection, vapor-barrier and insulated-envelope coordination, temperature zoning, and condensate/defrost drainage. The ammonia or CO2 refrigeration plant itself is a hazardous specialty designed to IIAR 2 by a refrigeration engineer; we engineer the machine-room ventilation, detection interlocks, emergency power, and drainage around it, all behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
Frozen product drives the slab below freezing, freezes the soil moisture, and heaves the floor over time. We design an under-slab heating system — glycol loops or self-regulating electric heat cable, typically 1.5–2.5 BTU/hr·ft² — coordinated with the insulation and a warm-side vapor barrier so the sub-grade never freezes and the assembly doesn't internally frost. It's one of the first things we resolve on a freezer box.
We establish and coordinate the design basis, then work with the fire-protection engineer on the layout. The key call is wet versus dry: coolers above 40°F can run wet pipe, freezers need dry-pipe or double-interlock preaction so the lines don't freeze, and that choice drives fluid-delivery time and ESFR-versus-in-rack decisions under NFPA 13. We carry it because it interacts directly with the racking, ceiling height, and the cold envelope.
Yes. We size service and distribution against diversified material-handling and conveyor load with documented headroom, and rough in power and controls pathways so adding sortation or ASRS later is a connection exercise rather than a service upgrade. We also plan EV truck, yard-tractor, and forklift charging with the utility so the electrical infrastructure matches the operation's electrification roadmap.
For an ammonia plant we design normal ventilation at the greater of 0.5 cfm per square foot (or 20 cfm per person) and the rate needed to hold room temperature, plus an emergency exhaust system at roughly 30 ACH that an ammonia detector starts at the 150 ppm threshold per IMC Chapter 11, ASHRAE 15, and IIAR 2. Automatic shutdown of compressors and pumps is a separate, higher-setpoint interlock — not the 150 ppm alarm. We design the fans, make-up air, detection, and emergency power; the plant scope stays with the refrigeration engineer.
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