Challenge:
Install a steel sectional overhead door that not only contributes toward reaching a specific LEED certification energy savings goal but that can also accommodate an electric cooperative’s stringent work safety protocols.
Solution:
A total of 34 Amarr® 2743 27-gauge Steel Sectional Overhead Super-Duty Doors: (30) 12' wide x 14' high and (2) 10' wide x 14' high and (2) 7'8" wide x 10' high 135 MPH wind load-rated doors (13 positive/17 negative PSF) with 3" 28.0 Rvalue foamed-in-place polyurethane insulation along with 3"high lift track. All of the doors feature three 24" x 12" clear insulated tempered glass and factoryapplied White finish. The project also features two Amarr® 4100 Series Rolling Slat Doors (8' x 10') with an 8.0 R-value.
Results:
A reliable steel sectional overhead door solution that not only contributes to high energy efficiency but that on-the-job end-users can confidently and safely interact with every day.
Application:
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) Southern Region Engineering and Operations Center
Environment:
Electric Utility Facility
Location:
Leonardtown, Md.
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) – Leonardtown, Maryland
When the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) decided to replace its former Southern Region Engineering and Operations Center with a new facility on the same property, energy efficiency and safety were among SMECO’s top priorities.
SMECO is one of the 15 largest electric cooperatives in the U.S. with 169,000 member accounts spread throughout four counties. Compared to SMECO’s former 15,000 square-foot Southern Region building, the electric cooperative’s new facility is five times larger at 75,000 square feet.
Constructed in 1979, SMECO’s old Southern Region facility didn’t have any truck bays or covered parking for utility vehicles. The structure only had a few garage doors that were mainly used for loading/unloading supplies and other materials.
Plans for SMECO’s new Southern Region facility involved several dramatic improvements — including 30 truck bays — that have all resulted in a unique setup for such an electrical utility.
Going for LEED Gold
A primary goal for SMECO’s new Southern Region facility was to not only set an example for energy efficiency but to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification. SMECO’s ambitious plans have also been closely tied to its state’s EmPOWER Maryland energy-saving initiative.
According to Steve Abell, Project Manager, Lawrence Abell & Associates LTD (La Plata, Md.), the SMECO facility’s energy efficiency efforts were actually planned as if the project was going for LEED Gold which has since paid off.
Because such a large percentage of the points required to initially achieve LEED Silver were attributed to energy efficiency — along with the SMECO facility project exceeding LEED Silver by 29 percent in overall point value — the facility was ultimately awarded LEED Gold certification.
The steel sectional overhead doors that Lawrence Abell & Associates LTD ended up selecting for the facility’s truck bays and other locations — all of which feature 3" 28.0 R-value foamed-in-place polyurethane insulation — were a key piece of a much larger and more complex puzzle.
“The Amarr doors helped with the LEED Optimize Energy Performance credits,” Abell continued. “Their overall thickness and insulation have contributed greatly to the efficiency of the building envelope.”
"The Amarr doors helped with the LEED
Optimize Energy Performance credits. Their
overall thickness and insulation have
contributed greatly to the efficiency of
the building envelope.”
Steve Abell, Project Manager, Lawrence Abell & Associates LTD
He further explained, “Along with consulting engineering firm Potomac Energy Group, Inc. (PEG) selecting efficient mechanical equipment and providing efficient mechanical design, the SMECO building team chose to include passive design elements that utilized increased building insulation where possible to reduce the load on the mechanical equipment.”
In addition to its truck bays, SMECO’s Southern Region facility contains a diverse use of space. Along with a fueling station and vehicle wash bays, it also includes an extensive parts department with two loading docks, an operations and call center, customer service center, traditional office space, kitchen, bunk rooms and showers, an auditorium, as well as a highly sophisticated backup emergency power system with fully redundant generator.
A combination of high R-value and safety
The SMECO Southern Region facility project involved the installation of a total of 34 Amarr® 2743 27-gauge Steel Sectional Overhead SuperDuty Doors:
- (30) 12' wide x 14' high (for pullthrough bays)
- (2) 10' wide x 14' high (for an auxiliary building)
- (2) 7'8" wide x 10' high (for dual location loading docks)
All of the doors are 135 MPH wind load-rated (13 positive/17 negative PSF) with 3" high lift track.
“As a result of working on a firehouse project with Amarr doors, we knew all about them and how well they perform,” Abell explained.
“As a result of working on a firehouse
project with Amarr doors, we knew all
about them and how well they perform.”
Steve Abell, Project Manager, Lawrence Abell & Associates LTD
“At 28.0, the doors provide the highest R-value per inch in our industry, a key component of the energy modeling for a building design to reach LEED certification,” said Mark Johnson, FAIA, Architectural Sales Manager, Amarr.
The doors also feature three 24" x 12" clear insulated tempered glass windows, several dedicated safety features, and a factory-applied White finish. The facility also utilizes two Amarr® 4100 Series Rolling Slat Doors (8' x10') with an 8.0 R-value.
The Amarr 2743 Steel Sectional Overhead Super-Duty Doors’ safety features include:
- Photoelectric sensors (primary entrapment protection device): when an object crosses between them, a downward moving door will reverse direction.
- Pneumatic sensing edge (secondary entrapment protection device): standard 2-wire sensing edge that will cause the door to reverse direction when it meets an obstruction.
- Safety bottom bracket: stops a door from going into freefall should a cable break.
“Of particular note is the safety bottom bracket which is more complex than what a normal door would require due to the weight of SMECO’s doors, especially with their three inches of insulation,” Johnson also pointed out. “In the rare case that a cable should break, the bracket is triggered, and a blade will dig into the track to keep the door from falling, breaking its glass windows on impact, damaging a utility vehicle, or worse yet, injuring a worker standing underneath the door.”
He added, “This project is a great example of how Amarr doors, working in conjunction with our dealer installers, can easily meet a variety of safety needs via integrated safety features such as those that the SMECO facility is using.”
“This project is a great example of how
Amarr doors, working in conjunction with
our dealer installers, can easily meet a
variety of safety needs via integrated safety
features such as those that the SMECO
facility is using.”
Mark Johnson, FAIA, Architectural Sales Manager, Amarr
Fully redundant operation
According to Ryan Schlotterbeck, Project Manager, SMECO, the new Southern Region facility’s safety measures mimic the electric cooperative’s Central Region Engineering and Operations Center in Hughesville, Md.
SMECO’s Southern Region facility is home to 70 employees, most of which are linemen. It was 4 "It's vitally important for us to have low maintenance doors that perform well every day . . . there's no time for garage door maintenance issues." Ryan Schlotterbeck, Project Manager, SMECO also designed to be a fully redundant backup to SMECO’s Central Region facility. In fact, SMECO could be run in its entirety from its Southern Region facility if needed, said Schlotterbeck.
“As an electric utility, we’re an extremely safety conscious operation,” he further emphasized. “Safety is always in the forefront of everything we do.”
Bright yellow bollards positioned both inside and outside each side of the doors help to prevent trucks and other equipment from hitting the door tracks. The Amarr steel sectional overhead doors also feature:
- Duplex springs
- Heavy-duty seals on the door bottoms to keep out moisture from snow, ice, or driving rain so that the inside of the doors stay dry
- LiftMaster H 5.0 Logic Hoist Operators (½ hp) with chain hoist overrides
“Our 30 new bays are a major plus for us and now cover the trucks from inclement weather,” said Schlotterbeck. “We no longer have to spend excess time running trucks to heat them or removing accumulated snow. We can just go about our work which saves us a lot of time.”
The SMECO facility’s 30 bays are pull-through with an Amarr steel sectional overhead door at either end. Each of the bays is designed to hold a line truck, trailer, and mini-excavator so they’re all contained in a single bay. That positions them ready to pull forward instead of backing up to leave the facility.
“The pull-through bays provide SMECO a lot of convenience, safety, and efficiency,” Schlotterbeck added.
The SMECO Southern Region facility also features two Amarr steel sectional overhead loading dock doors (7'8" wide x 10' high) that are relied on nearly daily for supply deliveries that involve thousands of stock items. The dual loading docks enable two trucks to unload at the same time. In addition, two Amarr rolling slat doors provide forklift access to the facility’s maintenance yard.
“With the amount of insulation in the facility, along with our high R-value Bay doors, we try to keep the bays at 60 degrees plus in the winter,” Schlotterbeck pointed out, adding that the facility’s overall energy efficiency has helped to generate enough points to achieve LEED Silver certification if not eventually LEED Gold.
"It's vitally important for us to have low
maintenance doors that perform well every
day . . . there's no time for garage
door maintenance issues."
Ryan Schlotterbeck, Project Manager, SMECO
Abell added that the steel sectional overhead doors are sometimes raised mid-day for cross ventilation during warmer months. And even though the facility’s interior isn’t cooled, it does utilize a direct outside air system (DOAS).
Schlotterbeck, who works closely with SMECO’s facilities team, stressed, “It’s vitally important for us to have low maintenance doors that perform well every day. We have a small maintenance staff that oversees seven buildings, so there’s no time for garage door maintenance issues. In total, we rely on more than 100 overhead doors overall between our two regional facilities, as well as a transportation building and a meter shop.”
“SMECO is one of the most knowledgeable owner entities we’ve ever worked with in terms of how vehicles approach and interact with such an operation as their new Southern Region facility, the types of door controls needed, and various safety considerations,” Abell concluded.
“We essentially followed their lead and Amarr then dovetailed into that from a functionality standpoint that resulted in heavy-duty overhead doors and springs that SMECO’s linemen highly durable equipment that they can safely and reliably interact with every day.”
Available Architect Resources
For details on the 2743 Super-Duty Steel Sectional Overhead Doors, visit Amarr Steel Sectional Overhead Doors.
To explore more about available Lift Options, including the Vertical Lift and High Lift Systems, visit Amarr Commercial Door Lift Options.
We also offer Continuing Education classes, CAD and BIM drawings, LEED resources and more!
Visit Amarr Architect Resources to learn more or contact us at 800-503-DOOR (3667).