Award of Merit
Best Sustainable Project
Project Team
MetLife - (Owner)
Forrest Perkins and
Wimberly Designs - (Architects)
GCS Sigal Construction and
HITT Contracting - (General Contractor)
JN&A - (Project Management)
Tishman Speyer - (Consultant)
Executive Summary
Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown is a 413-key luxury hotel in DC’s West End that includes 28,000 square feet of meeting space in the overall 411,396 square feet footprint. The property was built in 1985 and acquired by MetLife in 2014.
Upon purchase, the hotel’s existing Energy Management & Control System (EMS), was functioning in a very limited capacity, with frequent errors reported. The EMS, as it was configured at the time of the MetLife purchase, could not control frequency drives, optimize static pressures, alter CHW set points to take advantage of reduced latent load periods, or control fan or pump VFDs to track the actual loads. Early inspections by GHT, the hotel’s MEP consultant, also revealed numerous air leaks, typically at damper actuators and hose junctions. As a result, the engineering team was forced to operate equipment in “hand” mode to keep systems online, which was not only difficult, but inefficient. This practice was also compromising the FLSS smoke control system.
The EMS system is a key tool in achieving energy efficiency improvements related to the HVAC system. Without a fully functional system equipped with higher level functions, it was nearly impossible for the team to effectively regulate building operations and reduce electricity consumption.
GHT also recommended that the hybrid electric/pneumatic system be replaced with a full Direct Digital Control (DDC) system which is much more reliable and requires ignificantly less regular maintenance. This system also eliminates the need to replace the control system air compressor, and reduces energy costs associated with compressing control air.
The Fairmont is one of seven Green Key hotels in Washington DC, and the only one with a 5-Key rating for the 2017 calendar year
