Tighe & Bond provided HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering services to Austin Design, Inc. to support the design of a new parish hall at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Greenfield, MA. The parish hall consists of eight classrooms, administrative offices, a conference room, a commercial kitchen, restrooms, storage, circulation and support spaces. Its classrooms are designed with operable partitions, which allow the space to be converted into a large event hall that can accommodate up to 200 occupants.
The building’s high efficiency HVAC systems consist of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heat pumps and a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) with energy recovery for ventilation. Its commercial kitchen features a variable speed kitchen exhaust system and variable speed make-up air unit. The lighting system consists of LED fixtures throughout and includes a control system for occupancy sensing and daylight harvesting. The building also features a 31 kW, roof-mounted, solar photovoltaic array, which will help offset building electrical consumption. Plumbing systems include a condensing, gas-fired water heater, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and a grease interceptor for the commercial kitchen. The fire protection consists of a wet-pipe system for most of the building, with a dry-pipe system serving unheated attic areas. The building is also served by a fully addressable fire alarm system.
