INGEMEL S.A., was retained for the Five-Star “Grand Hotel and Convention Center –Cibao”. The complex consists of two adjoining Buildings, one for the Hotel and Main Guest Services,(550 Rooms) and the other for a large convention Center (Approx 3,000 people).

Both Buildings were to be served by a Central Cooling Plant of approximate 1,650 Tons., of refrigeration, with the possibility to be expanded in the future to approx 2,500 Tons, to serve future buildings projected also as part of the Hospitality complex.

INGEMEL’S consulting work started at an early stage of the architectural design, where several technical and economical evaluations were made, in coordination with the Customers Representative and the Team of Architects, Civil Engineers, and financial consultants, to determine the best type of glass, and the most convenient combination of insulation and roof construction materials, to save substantial costs in the initial investment of the Air conditioning systems, in the Buildings Electric infrastructure, as well as, and not less important, in the energy of operation of all the mechanical systems.

Building’s Pyramid Shape, with a very large glass to wall ratios and extended areas of exposed roof would have required otherwise larger Chiller Plant Capacity. Several available technologies to recover heat, to pre-cool outdoor ventilation air, were properly applied to the design of the Air conditioning systems for both Buildings, which made this complex a very energy efficient building, with optimized installation and operational Costs, and role model for the Country

A multi-discipline Building Management System (BMS) was also designed to make the mechanical systems automatically operated, with minor operator’s intervention and to guarantee that design philosophy to save energy was permanently maintained, regardless of the buildings occupancy.

Detail coordination with other engineering trades was an unavoidable objective from the beginning of the design project, which avoided costly delays and conflicts, among the different discipline contractors, during the construction stage.