Deposit Guaranty Bank - Building For the Future

In 1993 Deposit Guaranty was faced with a major decision. The EPA had targeted the refrigerant, used in their chiller equipment, to be phased out of production on January 1, 1996. Faced with the rising cost of refrigerant, availability concerns, and a commitment to our environment, the management of Commercial Center needed to develop a refrigerant management plan to meet this challenge.

John Hughes, Commercial Center Manager of Sealy Co., Inc., Chief Engineer Guy Gibson and Assistant Engineer Dave Hoppaugh, working with Ray Butts of Storer Equipment, developed a refrigerant plan to address the refrigerant issue. This plan was broken down into three phases:

Phase one of their plan was containment of the refrigerant through preventive maintenance. Periodic inspections by factory trained technicians minimized the potential for leaks. Utilizing special equipment, leak inspections were performed in less than four hours identifying and correcting leaking seals without introducing air into the equipment.

During phase two, an extensive evaluation of all the chillers determined that refrigerant conversion was a more economical route than replacement of these units. This option was available to Deposit Guaranty due to the versatility of the Trane products selected in the design phase of the building.

Phase three was a written plan to address the conversion of this equipment which included budgeting and the implementation time line.

John Hughes then presented the plan to the executive officers of Deposit Guaranty. After careful review of the proposal Deposit Guaranty made the economic and environmentally responsible decision to convert their Trane chillers to the EPA approved refrigerant 123.

In January, 1995 the project was completed. the scope of work included converting three Trane Centravac Chillers to environmentally safe refrigerant 123, installing three high efficiency Trane Purifier Purges, and three state-of-the-art Trane UCP II control panels to monitor and control the chiller’s operation.

Over the years Deposit Guaranty has continually upgraded the air conditioning system for comfort, efficiency, and reliability. The original CNB building has been involved in a remodeling project that included replacing two chillers with a high efficiency Trane 450 ton chiller operating on refrigerant 123. The air handling units and controls are being replaced on each floor utilizing Trane air units.

Prior planning has kept the Commercial Center on the leading edge in meeting the challenges of the future. They remain the premier office environment on Shreveport’s skyline.

Mid-South Tower & SWEPCO Project Sheds Light on Importance of Teamwork

What would you do if you were faced with the situation of renovating two large office buildings to the point of taking each story apart to the bare floor and concrete, while still keeping the buildings open for business? That was the case for the folks at SWEPCO and the Mid-South Tower Office Building. Late in 1992, knowing that they were going to have to complete other modifications to the buildings by 1998, a joint effort was established to begin planning for what would surely be a massive undertaking.

With over 70 businesses located in these two buildings (including 2 restaurants), both office facilities had to remain occupied during the entire process. Obviously, this created a unique and difficult construction problem. Each floor renovation was completed independently to minimize tenant discomfort. Although this project did require that the tenants move temporarily, the turnaround on each floor completion was approximately 14 weeks.

A comprehensive retrofit of Mid-South Tower was in order, and this included the replacement and redesign of all air conditioning, lighting and interior finish systems. The SWEPCO Main Office Building was also retrofitted, with complete refinishing of many areas. The SWEPCO Building was also incorporated into the main mechanical system serving both buildings.

The buildings were outfitted with two 550 ton High Efficiency Trane "Earth Wise" Chillers, four custom Trane Air Handling Units, four Trane Modular Climate Changers, Room Fan Coil Units, BCHB Blower Coil Units, approximately 500 DDC VAV Boxes and a Tracer "Access" system with multiple operator's stations. A Marley Cooling Tower was also installed during the renovation project.

Although it's too early to make evaluations on efficiency and "bottom line" figures, Hayden Snow and John Hauser of SWEPCO both feel that the project as a whole is a success and can definitely see the advantages of the temperature controls. Max Gongre, Maintenance Director for Mid-South Tower, is also enjoying Tracer. "Now when I get a call in the middle of the night, from my home I can turn on my laptop computer, access Tracer and take care of business," Max said. "We've gone from beating on pipes to using computers--what a transition," said Hauser.

Hayden Snow has some great advice for anyone considering a similar project. "Use of the team concept made it possible for us to accomplish our goals. Forming the right project team is critical. You have to be creative, prepare for the possibility of adjustments to your plan, and be flexible," Snow said.

Judging by the fact that they managed to keep all of their tenants and maintain a waiting list of potential tenants, it looks like they planned well!