Kansas City, Missouri – Intercontinental Hotel
Apr 24, 2013
Intercontinental Hotel
HVAC Evaluation and Upgrade
Kansas City, Missouri
When a client refers you on a project, you do everything you can to try to live up to expectations. In the case of this project, sys-tek exceeded the client’s expectations, and then some!
Beyond Engineering
Throughout the course of project discussions, it was discovered that there was something missing on this project – namely, the Architectural Drawings for the Facility. There apparently was a rumor at the hotel that a room had been “walled off” during renovations and that the “ghost” of these drawings still lived in the hotel & haunted the halls at night; however, the more likely story emerged that the drawings had been destroyed in a flood.
sys-tek spent several days researching the facility and discovered the historic ties this building has within the community and its famous Architect, Clarence Kivett. Kivett (1905-1996) designed some of the city’s best-known structures, including Kansas City International Airport, Kauffman Stadium, Macy’s Downtown Store, the Missouri State Office Building [13th and Holmes Streets], and the Spencer Chemistry Building at UMKC.
In addition to the historical significance of this facility, sys-tek also located the original drawings for the hotel in the UMKC Western Historical Manuscript Collection, housed in Columbia, Missouri. To our delight, they were the original mylar drawings, and were in great shape!
Meeting the Client’s Need – Wherever it Leads Us
Another challenge that was issued to sys-tek for this project was assisting the construction team with locating some replacement parts for the existing Broadway sinks. Broadway had gone out of business, and it was necessary to find a supplier that could machine new parts, or was still selling replacement parts for these models. sys-tek came through with flying colors again, and delivered the drawings, the sink parts, as well as our engineering services.
Engineering services included MEP engineering evaluation, system trouble shooting, commissioning, testing, adjusting, and balancing of an existing Dual-Duct VAV system serving the Hotel. The HVAC system was originally installed in 1960. Since then, it had gone through several upgrades & modifications to support the building additions, moves, and changes.
The objective of the project was to determine the operating condition, system performance, commissioning, make recommendations, and engineering sketches to improve system performance & reliability.
Services provided included site inspection, review, HVAC system readout, evaluation, and troubleshooting control systems to validate operation & sequencing.
