Our team is honored to have made the University of Texas Medical Branch feel the difference for 50 years. Their willingness to let us be a part of their team has enabled us to work on highly sensitive, complex projects and has significantly grown our experience in the laboratory industry. The Galveston National Laboratory project in 2006 became one of our milestone projects, and launched EAB into the Building Commissioning Industry. We highly value the loyal relationship we have with UTMB, and the support we provide when problems arise.
Over the years, we have had countless projects with UTMB including new construction, large renovation projects, high containment facility pressure and air flow verification. Our team is specifically trained to understand the complexities of controls, integration, redundancy, and continuous operation requirements that are common with critical laboratory facilities.
As previously mentioned, one of our milestone projects took place on the UTMB campus beginning in 2006. The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) is a high security National Biocontainment Laboratory, and second largest BSL4 facility in the nation, housing several Biosafety level 3 and level 4 research laboratories. The complexities of the controls in this type of facility can become problematic and require a need for consistent fine tuning. This building in particular serves as a national resource for developing therapies, vaccines and diagnostic tests for microbes that might be used by bioterrorists, and for analyzing naturally occurring, emerging infectious diseases such as SARS and West Nile Virus. To keep the facility safe, compliant, and ready to function, the EAB team worked together to make sure all small details were set up correctly to ensure an optimum operating facility. The Functional Performance Testing on this project resulted in recommendations to change the control sequences to meet the system revisions and resolve the control and room pressure issues. The project was completed October 1, 2009 and helped launch EAB into the Building Commissioning industry.
Since then, EAB has maintained a strong relationship with UTMB and continues to work on many projects for them. A couple notable projects included the Jennie Sealy Replacement Hospital, and League City Hospital Bed Tower Expansion. In both projects, our team was able to meet construction deadlines while ensuring an optimum operating facility. Our team is keenly aware of the unique challenges encountered with operating facilities and the care that must be exercised in sensitive environments with systems that are life-safety critical.
Also, EAB contributes airflow, temperature, humidity and pressurization measurements to assist in AAALAC assessments in seven different UTMB laboratories buildings to ensure the humane treatment of animals.
Jeff Stovall, EAB Project Supervisor, has been working closely with UTMB for the past three years. Jeff maintains field work, and primarily keeps projects moving forward. Jeff comments on his time at UTMB,
“I love the work we get to do at UTMB. The trust that we have earned over the years has helped us maintain a strong relationship with UTMB. Our team consistently ensures comfort by providing quality services that go above and beyond. Our team is dedicated to improving the quality and flow process of all projects. I’m very proud of the work we have done because we have greatly improved their systems by reporting actual conditions, and we have been able to correct many issues. I’m also extremely grateful for the UTMB team that I get to work beside every day. Their responsiveness and willingness to work alongside us has made all the difference.”
While the faces at UTMB have changed over the years, the relationship has maintained the same. Our team looks forward to another 50 years of work alongside UTMB.