Project Team
Owner: University of Florida Planning & Construction, Gainesville
Location: Fort Pierce, Fla.
Cost: $3.3 million
Contractor: Elkins Constructors, Jacksonville
Architect: KBJ Architects, Jacksonville

Located in Fort Pierce, this University of Florida facility is utilized by researchers to study the potential use of biological control organisms such as insects, mites and nematodes to combat the growing number of exotic, invasive plants and arthropods that have been identified throughout the state.

The goal of the researchers is to ensure that these organisms that may be used to help control the spread of the invasive species will not feed on unintended plants or other living matter. For that reason, the entire facility had to be constructed so that every room could be completely airtight and climate-controlled.

The exterior of the two-story, 19,710-sq.-ft. building is fairly traditional, featuring a block-and-brick structure with an aluminum standing-seam roof. Inside, the facility is more complex, featuring 13 separate mechanical systems for each area of the building. Laboratory spaces comprise roughly 12,380 sq. ft., and the facility also has six greenhouses and office areas.

The entire building had to be tightly sealed, and each room quarantined from the next. For this purpose, the project team used zero-tolerance caulking and other airtight construction methods. This method of caulking required that all sheetrock be cut to fit tightly around all spaces, then slathered with flexible caulk to prevent air from passing from room to room. Drywall was sealed at ducts and conduit, and ceilings and floors were preserved with a protective sealant. Electrical conduit going from room to room was sealed with a special conduit system, and the heating and cooling system was self-contained for each quarantined area.

To ensure the quality of each sealed space, the Elkins team would caulk a room and then test it individually, instead of testing the entire building at once. This was critical, because finding out at the end of the project that a room was not sealed correctly would be too late. To certify that rooms were successfully sealed, federal inspectors would verify the quality of each quarantined room with air-pressure testing.

According to Elkins Constructors' project entry information, the intricate and complex nature of the project resulted in its cost being roughly three times that of a more standard building of a similar size.