Assuring Life-Safety and Security

Heightened awareness of the need for optimal life-safety and security systems has required the team to rethink and accommodate extensive upgrades in original plans. In that process, CIBC has brought on very high-end security consultants to help with the planning, especially ensuring that redundancies and precautions are appropriate and provide, in many cases, a noticeable deterrent. Digital cameras will ensure the integrity and clarity of captured incidences, while such technologies as safety film within the layers of the double-pane windows provide another tier of protection from the street.One interesting aspect of innovation at 300 Madison Avenue will be the redundancies applied to the facility’s sprinkler system. Here, a double standpipe will ensure the system is always operational: Sprinklers on odd floors will run off one, while even floors will be supplied by the other. Yes, this system has added cost, says Griffin, but it makes good common sense. “It’s the right thing to do,” he adds. The team is also putting in extra fire reserves so more water is available on-site to accommodate the sprinkler system until the fire department arrives.Separate control systems support life-safety and security functions, but talk with the facility’s central building automation system. The criticality of functions inherent in trading floors and data centers requires generators, fuel storage to run the generators, and back-up generators to support the primary generators. Uninterruptible power systems further ensure the trading floors’ and data centers’ power supply, while redundant chillers ensure heat loads in these critical areas are within certain parameters. “One chiller will run the full load of critical functions of the building, and we have four of them,” explains Griffin.As the physical presence of CIBC World Markets’ U.S. headquarters at 300 Madison Avenue continues to change the Manhattan skyline almost day by day, the facility’s heart and soul – and ultimate success – relies on the ingenuity and sensibility of this hard-working, high-caliber group of professionals.Rest assured, they are certainly getting it right.To Be Continued …Linda K. Monroe ([email protected]) is editorial director at Buildings magazine.