CLIENT
Lavelle School ofr the Blind
PROJECT SIZE
95,000 SF
PROJECT VALUE
$3.5 Million
SERVICES
MEP
REFERENCE
Dr. Rebecca L. Renshaw
Executive Director
Lavelle School ofr the Blind
(718) 882-1212 ext. 216
rrenshaw@lavelleschool.org
Legacy Engineers was retained to provide engineering services for a boiler plant and HVAC unit infrastructure project with a goal of installing new modern systems to serve the facility reliably, for the next 40-years.
Lavelle School for the Blind is a multi-cultural educational institution serving students with visual impairments and varying disabilities, ages 6-21, with the education, services, resources, and experiences necessary for them to reach their fullest potential in life. Their 95,000 GSF facility, located at 3830 Paulding Ave in Bronx, NY consists of an original 1930’s three-story Administration Building and subsequent interconnecting building additions in the 1960’s, a 3-story Classroom Building and a 2-story Auditorium Building.
The facility suffered from an aging infrastructure with equipment that was in different stages of disrepair and beyond its useful life. In 2021, LSB received a State grant for a Boiler & HVAC Replacement Project allowing them to replace their fuel-oil fired, steam boiler plant and two (2) air handling units that serve the auditorium and the gymnasium.
Legacy began the project by assisting LSB with a decision to install a temporary boiler for the immediate winter or to limp through one more season with their existing 90-year-old boiler; and then evaluated three (3) alternative options for their replacement. The following three (3) Schemes were analyzed for consideration:
• Scheme 1: New Gas-Fired Steam Boiler Plant
• Scheme 2: New Gas-Fired Hot-Water Condensing Boilers
• Scheme 3: Air-Source (or Hybrid Geothermal/Air-Source) Heat Pumps
Legacy prepared a life cycle cost analysis of the three (3) schemes versus their current system summarizing their respective annual energy costs and consumptions; their respective carbon emissions and projected Local Law 97 (LL97) fines; and the utility rebate incentives they would qualify for.