BHB provided the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services to remodel and upgrade FirstCash Fort Worth’s corporate headquarters. FirstCash Fort Worth is located at 1600 W 7th St, Fort Worth, TX 76102, and is a nine-story, 165,550 SF commercial office building that was originally built in 1985 but has undergone several renovations since then. BHB has completed several renovations throughout the building, two of the biggest being the 6th and 8th floor remodels.
Our MEP team redesigned two floors and a data center in the building. The core infrastructure remained the same, but the BHB mechanical team replaced the downstream ductwork and terminal units to allow for optimal comfort control and energy savings. The new equipment and fixtures were also designed and installed to meet or exceed current requirements of the International Energy Conservation Code. The building’s electrical design included complying with the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code. To comply with this code, the BHB electrical team designed vacancy and occupancy sensors for lighting controls and sensors for daylight harvesting.
Throughout the past year, BHB worked with the building owner to help the building secure the energy star certification, and the building needed to score 75 or higher on the ENERGY STAR scale of 1-100 in order to qualify for the certification. FirstCash scored 75 out of a 100, which means that it’s 75% more energy efficient than similar properties nationwide. This certification illustrates the building is saving more energy, money, and protecting the environment by generating less greenhouse gases.
The ENERGY STAR Certification is a multi-step process that involves a Professional Engineer who identifies the building size, type, and various uses, as well as documenting energy usage for twelve months. BHB Associate and mechanical engineer Saul Martinez walked through the FirstCash building with the facilities manager to verify usage and occupancy, as well as worked to procure the electric utility bills and diesel invoices between February 2021 – February 2022 to verify the building’s total energy usage. Saul and the mechanical team also had to document the building’s weekly operating hours, number of building occupants, building area, number of computer workstations, and identify data centers in the building as well.
Although it was a multi-step process with lots of items to track, BHB was happy to help with this certification process. Overall, BHB strives to implement cost-saving and energy efficient measures to meet a client’s needs.
“We look forward to partnering with FirstCash in 2023 to help certify their building again!,” said Saul Martinez, PE.