Multifamily Electrical and Plumbing Upgrades for an Occupied Community – Redwood City, CA
Category: Multifamily Residential
Total Area: 115,342 ft²
Services Provided: Electrical Engineering, Plumbing Engineering
Completion Date: 2025
Client: Stanford Real Estate
Project Description
Pragmatic PE provided electrical and plumbing engineering services for phased dwelling unit upgrades at Avenue 2, an existing multifamily community in Redwood City, California. The project focused on improving electrical safety, system reliability, and domestic hot water performance while preserving functional infrastructure to manage cost and minimize disruption to occupied units. Our team developed schematic designs for a representative unit and translated those solutions into permit-ready construction documents scalable across the entire property.
Avenue 2 is an occupied, garden-style multifamily community with studio, one-, and two-bedroom units and shared resident amenities, requiring carefully phased electrical and plumbing upgrades to maintain resident comfort and uninterrupted building operations.
Electrical Engineering
Conducted on-site assessments of existing electrical panels, feeders, devices, and grounding conditions throughout the property.
Developed electrical load calculations to evaluate the impact of new unit lighting, receptacles, and equipment on the existing 800A, 120/208V service.
Designed a new building-wide grounding riser system to address legacy ungrounded receptacles and enhance occupant safety.
Engineered panel feeders and branch circuiting to support updated unit layouts and current code requirements.
Specified high-efficiency LED lighting upgrades for dwelling units and common corridors, including battery-backed emergency lighting to meet life safety standards.
Completed California Title 24 lighting and electrical compliance documentation to support permitting.
Plumbing Engineering
Evaluated existing domestic cold water, hot water, sanitary waste, vent, and storm drainage systems to determine reuse viability and required upgrades.
Performed water supply fixture unit and demand calculations to confirm service capacity and properly size new domestic water distribution piping.
Designed a new centralized domestic hot water system to replace end-of-life equipment, incorporating redundant heating capacity and a dedicated recirculation system to improve hot water delivery times.
Engineered domestic hot and cold water distribution systems in compliance with 2022 California Plumbing Code flow, velocity, and pressure criteria.
Coordinated sanitary waste and vent system modifications to support new and relocated fixtures while minimizing impacts to structure, finishes, and occupied units.
Verified that existing storm drainage infrastructure could be reused without modification.
Results & Impact
Pragmatic PE delivered coordinated, permit-ready electrical and plumbing designs that modernized aging multifamily infrastructure while maximizing reuse of existing systems. The upgrades improved electrical safety, lighting efficiency, and domestic hot water reliability, providing the owner with a scalable, cost-effective solution that supports long-term building performance and resident satisfaction.