St. Louis Office Brings Expertise In Indoor Air Quality Systems to Healthcare Projects

A Conversation with Tom Bice, P.E.

The St. Louis office of Henneman Engineering (HEI) has built a strong track record in the area of healthcare consulting and design.  This expertise includes projects for some of the St. Louis area’s largest hospitals such as St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and Missouri Baptist.     
HEI/St. Louis offers a full range of consulting engineering services including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and information technology design services.

Though most projects for this office are in the healthcare industry, the office also does work in other areas such as the current expansion of the Edward Jones corporate headquarters in St. Louis.
 
Indoor air quality with respect to healthcare has always been an inherent part of Henneman’s engineering design for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, says Tom Bice, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development in St. Louis.
 
Tom has been designing building systems for 30 years and has been associated with Henneman for the past six years.  Most of his career has been in the St. Louis area, with a primary focus in healthcare design and engineering. 

“With energy being such a big consideration for hospitals systems today, indoor air quality has become more critical for both patients and providers and our approach is more advanced,” Tom says.

Tom adds, “There are a lot of regulatory agencies we work with and more stringent criteria now than in past years. With an emphasis on LEED design, there is an increased awareness of sustainability in materials we use and how we design air handling systems.”   

The LEED approach requires engineers to follow stricter guidelines for indoor air quality using enhanced methods for measuring and monitoring contaminants, along with more controls on how much outside air comes into the building.

Systems must include the proper filtration in the air handling systems and meet various requirements for the healthcare environment.  Henneman evaluates and advises clients of all the various options.

“As consulting engineers on the design team, Henneman brings its experience in designing all the physical elements including duct work, air handlers, dampers, and fans.  We also design the control strategies that measure and monitor the systems to bring the proper amounts of air in and out of the building,” Tom says.

This focus on healthcare is keeping the St. Louis office busy with several large projects now under construction including the new Surgery Tower at University of Missouri-Columbia, and the new Orthopedic Institute also at the University of Missouri.  For both projects, Henneman is responsible for all of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and information technology design.

The Orthopedic Institute is an example of Henneman’s expertise in designing state-of-the-art air filtration systems. This system includes three levels of filtration in each surgery room for ultimate air cleanliness.  In addition, Henneman designed the outside air systems to monitor proper air flow, along with temperature and humidity systems throughout the facility.

The team at Henneman works closely with architects to advise them of the best locations for the air handling systems for optimal performance.  Tom says this is why it’s so important for his team to be involved early on in the design process. 

Henneman also works with owners to correct existing air handling systems at healthcare facilities, as in the case of a helicopter landing pad that was allowing contaminated air into the facility which Henneman was able to improve.     
 
When it comes to healthcare systems design, it’s the level of expertise at the senior level that sets Henneman Engineering apart.  Tom explains, “When we are selected for a healthcare project, Henneman is able to bring in senior level people from any number of our offices around the country if needed.  We do a very good job for our clients in the early conceptual stage where we can determine the best locations for all of air handling systems which ultimately creates a much higher level of air quality for the project.”  

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Jeff Treiber, P.E.

Senior Vice President · Director of Chicago Office

Jeff Treiber is not your typical engineer.  While the technical side of engineering has always been something he has enjoyed throughout his 29-year career, it’s the people side he likes best.

Jeff explains, “Being the leader of an engineering firm, I like that my job is technical.  But what I most enjoy is the interaction, the service and the development of relationships with our clients, partners and co-workers.  To be a successful engineer you must be not only technically proficient, but you must be able to build relationships with people.”

Jeff was raised in a western suburb of Chicago, in Lombard, IL, and today makes his home in the Chicago suburb of Kennilworth with his wife Anita and daughter, Kendall, age 12.  Jeff currently serves as the president of the Kennilworth Board of Education.

Jeff’s mission statement is to "work hard, enjoy life, serve and demonstrate love to my family and others everyday, with God’s help." Jeff’s favorite quote is from John Adams, “Courage and perseverance are magical, causing difficulty to disappear and obstacles to vanish into air.”   His favorite book is “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens.  His favorite magazine is Crain’s Chicago Business and his favorite film is “It’s A Wonderful Life” by Frank Capra.  

As a student, Jeff excelled in math and science.  He received his bachelor’s degree in civil and structural engineering from the University of Illinois in 1980.  After graduation, he accepted a position with an engineering firm in San Jose, California, where he spent seven years.  He went on to earn a master of science in engineering mechanics and engineering management from the University of Santa Clara in 1985.  

During this time he met his role model who was also his first supervisor after college.  “He modeled very good qualities including fairness, the importance of technical knowledge, and having a good balance between work and personal life,” Jeff said.   

After his years in California, Jeff was ready to return home and accepted a position at a firm in Chicago.  Over the next 20-plus years in Chicago, Jeff’s diverse career took him from small tenant engineering projects to a lead management role in the massive $2.3 billion Chicago Public Schools Capital Renovation Program.  

Jeff cites this as his most rewarding project, having served as the MEP Director of the total renovation of Chicago Public Schools from 1996-2000.

“In this project, we assessed, planned and initiated renovations of over 600 public schools,” Jeff said.  “This positively impacted the lives of thousands of students and is a project I am very proud of.”   

As the leader Henneman Engineering’s Chicago office, Jeff is responsible for the technical quality of the firm’s services; recruitment, retention and development of the staff; business development; and profit and loss.  Jeff is also a member of Henneman’s Board of Directors.  

Since joining Henneman nearly six years ago, Jeff has focused on many projects in the education and healthcare sectors.  In addition, he says the firm has a very successful track record on projects incorporating sustainable design features, including more than two dozen LEED consulting and commissioning projects to date.

Jeff and his team at Henneman received the International ASHRAE Comfort Cooling Award in 2006 for their design for a chilled water plant at the University of Illinois at Chicago which he cites as a top honor.  

The Chicago office is still very busy these days and Jeff describes a couple major projects. “One significant project we are excited about is for  Central DuPage Hospital where we are doing the LEED consulting and commissioning for a new pavilion,” Jeff says.  “we were recently notified that our assistance in preparation of the application resulted in a large energy grant to Central DuPage for this project, which is very gratifying." Jeff adds, "we are also currently developing the Chicago Public Library new LEED-NC Silver branch library prototypes with Lohan Anderson Architects for the Public Building Commission of Chicago."
 
With no plans for slowing down, Jeff talks about the satisfaction he gets from working on so many different kinds of projects.  “I really enjoy seeing the positive impact of our work in our community, from university facilities to hospitals to schools, libraries and infrastructure.  It’s rewarding to see these projects that we were integral in developing, and now has become such an important thriving part of the community.”
       
Throughout his 29-year career, Jeff says he has tried to follow his own personal credo, “Work hard, never give up, and remember to have fun.”