An Approach to Sustainability at the Community Level: the UCSD Centralized Research Support Facility

Thomas Mistretta, HDR
Philip Richter, University of California, San Diego

Background: The University of California San Diego is one of the nation's premier institutions for medical and life science research. The 50 year old public institution currently has 15 vivaria with cagewash facilities supporting this effort. Those facilities are of a wide range of sizes with a wide variety of equipment, resulting in various efficiencies and effectiveness. Cagewash facilities are notorious for being utility-intensive and are required to be of some of the most robust construction in any research environment.

Solution: The University's Animal Care Program, in an effort to manage the situation proposed to have a consolidated, single cagewash facility, potentially serving all of the University's vivaria. This facility has received ARRA funding through an NIH grant, has been designed, and is now under construction.

Sustainability Objectives: This single facility will result in a sustainable solution for the University's Animal Care Program as follows:

  1. Significantly reduce the quantity of washing equipment and provide an operational context where equipment is operated at maximum efficiency.
  2. Replace existing, older style washing equipment with new units requiring less water, power and steam, less chemicals and effluent, and shorter cycle times, increasing product throughput.
  3. Provide washing capacity in excess of projected needs, eliminating need to build future cagewash facilities even if additional animal housing is required.
  4. Re-purpose space currently occupied by cagewash facilities to other vivarium or research functions, accommodating future growth and reducing need to construct future facilities.
  5. Reduce overall labor associated with cagewash functions and create higher utilization rate of cagewash staff.
  6. Reduce exposure of staff to occupational and health hazards through washing staff reductions and modern equipment which reduces exposures and hazards.
  7. Reduce operational costs associated with maintaining the University's cagewash facilities.
  8. Centralize washing equipment performance data for improved utilization of resources and coordination of activities.
  9. Achieve LEED Silver Certification.

Evaluation: Many buildings address sustainability goals that are limited to the particular building. This project, is similar in that regard, but more importantly, it reaches beyond that goal and is an example of a program that can extend its sustainability objectives to impact an entire community, and in this regard is a vanguard example of a next generation sustainable project.

Learning Objectives

  • Participants will be able to assess criteria to evaluate automated cage processing systems for animal facilities.
  • Participant will learn specification tools for sustainable cage processing equipment for animal facilities.
  • Participants will learn considerations to assess consolidation of support programs serving multiple facilities for sustainability purposes, utilizing a centralized animal facility cage processing facility as an example.

Biographies:

Tom Mistretta has over 30 years of professional experience as an architect, specializing in the programming, planning and design of buildings for research and development, and scientific instruction. In that capacity, he has been involved in the design and construction of over 40 animal facilities, including many high containment facilities. Recently, he served as a Committee Member for the NIH DRM Animal Research Sections. His focus is on the design of high performing workplaces.

Phil Richter is the Director of the Animal Care Program and Campus Veterinarian at the University of California, San Diego. UCSD ranks 15th in the national in overall NIH funding and consistently is ranked among the highest institutions in the United States for its research programs.

 

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