Fire Station No. 7 in Sugar Land is getting $663,841 in renovations to its building and heating, ventilation and air conditioning system after mold was found in 2021. City Council approved a $185,000 budget amendment to help fund the unexpected project at its June 21 meeting.

The project, which began in May, will include replacing variable refrigerant flow equipment, installing an outside air pretreatment system, adding new insulation, replacing heating, ventilation, adding HVAC controls and executing electrical work. The selected bid placed by HVAC contractor Star Services estimated the work to the facility will cost $663,841.

“The facilities division arranged for Fire Station No. 7 to be inspected and tested after some mold was resumed or observed on the wall in the gear source room,” said Keisha Seals, the city’s assistant director of environmental and neighborhood services. “We hired an air quality testing company to perform tests and confirm the presence of the mold. Immediately following that, we relocated the firefighters into a housing unit on-site so they can still do their daily activities [in] terms of responding to incidents."

In Sugar Land’s 2019 voter-approved general obligation bond, $519,792 was set aside for public safety and public services building rehabilitation to be supplemented with the $185,000 budget amendment.

The facility, which was the city’s first Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design certification, was built at 1301 Chatham Ave. in Telfair in 2011. It typically houses four to seven emergency responders. Council Member William Ferguson expressed concerns about a potential design flaw, given the facility’s age. Officials said they have made the necessary updates to prevent this from happening again.

“The major thing that we needed to include was dehumidification prior to the outside air getting into the facility,” Seals said. “Now that we're installing that dehumidification, that's going to help dry out the air before it goes into the system and distributors into the facility—and again that wasn't there before.”

The facility renovations are expected to take 30 days and be completed in December.Fire Station No. 7 in Sugar Land is getting $663,841 in renovations to its building and heating, ventilation and air conditioning system after mold was found in 2021. City Council approved a $185,000 budget amendment to help fund the unexpected project at its June 21 meeting.

The project, which began in May, will include replacing variable refrigerant flow equipment, installing an outside air pretreatment system, adding new insulation, replacing heating, ventilation, adding HVAC controls and executing electrical work. The selected bid placed by HVAC contractor Star Services estimated the work to the facility will cost $663,841.

“The facilities division arranged for Fire Station No. 7 to be inspected and tested after some mold was resumed or observed on the wall in the gear source room,” said Keisha Seals, the city’s assistant director of environmental and neighborhood services. “We hired an air quality testing company to perform tests and confirm the presence of the mold. Immediately following that, we relocated the firefighters into a housing unit on-site so they can still do their daily activities [in] terms of responding to incidents."

In Sugar Land’s 2019 voter-approved general obligation bond, $519,792 was set aside for public safety and public services building rehabilitation to be supplemented with the $185,000 budget amendment.

The facility, which was the city’s first Leadership and Energy and Environmental Design certification, was built at 1301 Chatham Ave. in Telfair in 2011. It typically houses four to seven emergency responders. Council Member William Ferguson expressed concerns about a potential design flaw, given the facility’s age. Officials said they have made the necessary updates to prevent this from happening again.

“The major thing that we needed to include was dehumidification prior to the outside air getting into the facility,” Seals said. “Now that we're installing that dehumidification, that's going to help dry out the air before it goes into the system and distributors into the facility—and again that wasn't there before.”

The facility renovations are expected to take 30 days and be completed in December.