Gulf Coast Growth Ventures
Corpus Christi, Texas
Exxon/Sabic’s Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV) facility is a $120 million, multi-building, oil and gas mixed-use complex comprising an administration building, control center, laboratories, fire station and a maintenance and warehouse servicing facility. The Michael Baker team provided engineering services across the campus and its various highly specialized buildings.
The 100,000-square-foot administration and control facility is a three-story, 24/7 operations center complete with reductant cooling systems, uninterruptible power supply, diesel generator, robust variable air volume (VAV) air handling and conditioning systems, shelter-in-place amenities and data center equipment rooms. Designed to serve as the controls operations for an entire refinery (alongside serving as an operations and maintenance hub), the GCGV represents a state-of-the-art feat of engineering designed to LEED Certification standards.
The 25,000-square-foot product sampling laboratory consists of three individual labs with 28 fume hoods, 70 gas chromatographs, presses, snorkels and advanced laboratory equipment. Redundant laboratory exhaust fans (each rated to 15,000 cubic feet per minute) operate in conjunction with Honeywell’s Phoenix Control System for precision control and monitoring of air change rates. Building temperatures are optimized via redundant VAV air handling units with chilled water and an electric reheat system.
The 130,000-square-foot maintenance and warehouse facility incorporates a two-story office, electronic labs, maintenance bays and hazmat storage for Class A materials. Air conditioning for the operations offices uses VAV air handling systems with fan-powered terminal units on the perimeter and pinch-down VAV terminal units on the interior.
Campus buildings are cooled by a centralized chilled water system consisting of three 300-ton chillers, each with its own 450 gallons per minute water pump. Energy-efficient variable flow systems provide chilled water (420 degrees Fahrenheit) through underground piping to each of the major buildings. The facility is equipped with a 2-megawatt emergency diesel generator, which will supply back-up power in the event of a power outage.
