The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) is planning to design and build Triage and Response BSL-3 Laboratories to support their mission of “protecting and preserving the health and environment of the people of Colorado” as it relates to hazardous materials and terrorism. The function of the Triage Laboratory is to receive, assess, screen, sub-sample and store primary specimens that are potentially Chem-Bio-Radiological (CBR) hazards with high security, chain of custody, decontamination and shower in/out protocols. Both chemistry and microbiology personnel will use the Response Laboratory with flexible swing space between. The Laboratory will be used for regular exercises and training purposes, as well as non-routine, real crisis event situations. Construction is currently on hold for this project.
Design consists of 5,056 GSF of BSL-3 laboratories designed to meet all BSL-3 requirements and includes some enhancements.
SBEC’s mechanical and electrical scope of work consisted of the design of BSL-3 containment suites with HEPA filtered exhaust, DX cooling rooftop air handling units, bio-safety cabinets, condensate drainage, independent temperature controls, controlled relative humidity, fire alarm / fire protection, security systems interface, vacuum, water, DI water and pressurized air, emergency shower and eyewash, emergency power, card key access and video surveillance and exhaust air HEPA-filtered and negative pressure.
The principal challenge of this project was proper air flow. SBEC performed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) air flow modeling to analyze room air flow due to high concentration of chemical fume hoods and biological safety cabinets, which assisted with identifying air flow challenges prior to construction.