University of Illinois, Veterinary Medicine

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Henneman Engineering performed a comprehensive life safety study of the University of Illinois’ Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building as part of life safety upgrades at multiple buildings on campus. 

Built in 1982, the Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Building did not have an existing fire suppression system. Henneman’s life safety analysis focused on the fire alarm systems, fire protection systems, and access and security control. 

Based upon our study, the University of Illinois awarded Henneman the project to install an automatic fire suppression system throughout the building in compliance with the university’s Facilities Standards. A full NFPA 13 wet pipe sprinkler system was installed for the entire five-story, 262,000-square-foot building. 

Henneman also corrected all deficiencies in the fire alarm system and made changes to ensure all smoke, heat, and beam detectors were fully addressable at the fire alarm control panel. 

With this building housing research animals and all of the university’s veterinary research, all work had to be planned and scheduled so it did not affect ongoing operations.