Sometimes, the decision to renovate or not renovate a facility can save your entire business. One example of this was the conversion of an existing warehouse into a LEED-certified, climate-controlled, 45,000-sq.-ft. food-grade manufacturing space owned by a bag and film manufacturer in California.

A major motivator behind the conversion was a do-or-die threat by the manufacturer’s two largest customers. They said if the company didn’t become food grade certified, in this case against SQF 2000, they would stop doing business with it.

The company jumped into action and hired Stantec to help in the extensive renovation effort. The $12 million project included a lot of front-end work, including a 5S master planning effort for equipment layout, occupational safety features, HACCP protocols with a Merv 13 HEPA filtered air system, insulated metal panel walls, automatic rollup doors and high-efficiency lighting and chillers. 

Additional energy-saving features included onsite solar power generation, combining process and cooling utilities to save energy, and enhancing the process cooling for new injection molding equipment.  Site upgrades included adding a 7.5 ton bridge crane, upgrading the high-voltage electrical power system to handle additional equipment loads, a new office space, QC laboratory and more.

“We carried out the work with the client in two phases and completed it in 2013,” says Stantec Principal Todd Reed. “The manufacturer got the food-grade certification and secured its ongoing business.”