The International Food Safety Training Laboratory Facility is located at the University of Maryland. This facility’s latest program is designed to focus on ensuring the safety of the U.S. food supply. All laboratory equipment is highly sensitive and is required to operate under very specific conditions. The facility was constructed in the existing Patapsco Building which houses many other research classrooms. The building remained in operation during construction of the new laboratory. Occupants were kept informed of the progress of work with special coordination notices and approvals were obtained before all utility outages.

JRA was contracted to install the plumbing and HVAC systems for this new state of the art laboratory. All lab equipment was required to be connected with hospital grade tubing which could not be exposed to any outside contaminants. Multiple medical gas systems along with an acid-resistant exhaust duct system were installed.

The HVAC systems, consisting of (3) new rooftop units had to perform at specific temperatures as well as humidity for proper operation of the highly specialized lab equipment.