Modular Building that will be installed on an existing hospital

[CMiske]

Good morning. This is my first post. I am performing a code review on a modular unit to sit on top of a hospital and will house a Glycol system use to cool the hospital. The hospital is an existing structure and this is part of a renovation of the HVAC system. The module in question will house a 300 gallon glycol tank inside it. I believe this building will be an occupancy class of and H2 or H3. The company I am working with is believing that the enclosure will be an occupancy class of I2. 

Other items that I am needing to consider is the modular enclosure will not be sprinkled and the existing building is a type 1B construction class. The hospital is located in Michigan and we are to follow the 2021 Michigan Building Code.

I believe the building will need to be fire rated but the client does not want it to be. While I know that it's not what the company wants that drives the review just what the code says but am getting frustrated with being pressured to lean towards it being not fire rated.

 

Any feedback on if I am heading in the right direction will be greatly appreciated. If more information is needed feel free to ask I and I can provide any missing pieces to assist in guidance. Thank you.

Edited Tuesday at 03:08 PM by CMiske

[Joe_Carrick]

As a former California Hospital Architect, you need to:

1. Make sure you are licensed to do this work
2. Check with the Michigan and local codes for:
   1. occupancy class
   2. fire resistive requirements.
3. Hospitals require much more stringent codes than other structures and I'm pretty sure anything built on or attached will have to conform to those codes.
4. The may be additional state Hospital licensing codes & review.  That is definitely true in California - I don't know about Michigan.

Edited Tuesday at 03:36 PM by Joe_Carrick

[CMiske]

Joe thank you for the feedback. I agree with everything you have said. Currently I am just making sure I am barking up the correct tree as I am the compliance manager for a modular manufacturer. I feel that this is going to be an H2 minimum and at least 1 hr fire rated so far. I have a sneaky suspicion it may end up being a 2 hr rated fire wall. Mostly am hoping to verify that because this is a glycol pump system that it will be an H2. I was looking over the equipment package and there is a 10 gallon overflow tank and a 300 gallon "buffer tank". That should not make any difference though as I was always taught to review to worst case scenario.

Edited Tuesday at 07:25 PM by CMiske

[CMiske]

Ok. I ended up calling the local AHJ and I can classify the enclosure as I-2, the same as the hospital. While our client did say that it does not need to be sprinkled the AHJ says it does. Outside of that I do not need to have a fire rated wall assembly around the exterior of the enclosure. It will be considered an incidental use building which would either require and automatic sprinkler system throughout just the same as the existing hospital does or will need 1 hour fire rated walls. Local AHJ wants a sprinkler system.