Southwestern College IT Building

Transforming the Informational Technology Department at Southwestern College

The Southwestern College in San Ysidro underwent new construction on the campus. The college wanted to translate its mission statement onto the renovated campus to bring “equitable education that transforms the lives of students and communities.” This 15,875 square-foot plan and spec project constructed a new building for the Southwestern College IT department. Within one year, the campus will transform its outdated IT office into a new state-of-the-art building. The most interesting room in the building will be the CRAC room. This room was designed to have raised access floor for cooling capabilities, and half the room has floor-ceiling glass with LED backlighting. The building is expected to provide new information technology with up-to-date programs providing the best solutions for students and faculty at Southwestern College.

A.O. Reed has been a key component on this project. Our involvement ranged from detailing and coordination in the BIM meetings to on-site construction. The project had a 12-month turnaround, which made every second count. A.O. Reed’s scope of work is HVAC and plumbing. On the wet side, this consisted of HHW and CHW hydronic piping. A.O. Reed installed two CRAC units, three split system units, and seventeen fan coil units. To install these units, we relied on our duct fabrication crew to prepare and assemble all ductwork on the project. This reduced lead time and our crew size. As for the plumbing, A.O. Reed detailed, planned, and installed the underground site sewer and storm drain. We also installed four restrooms, one breakroom, and condensate piping.

To maintain the project schedule, all trades on-site are expected to work together as a team. A.O. Reed worked on coil connections to the fan coil units. We also continued to run heating hot water and chilled water hydronic piping during the project milestones. A.O. Reed’s plumbers installed condensate and water pipe. A.O. Reed has finalized the last installations of the louvers and duct. With A.O. Reed’s well-trained team, we did our part to give Southwestern College the tools they needed to succeed. The project was completed on January 24th, 2023. Go Jaguars!