Salas O'Brien News

Salas O’Brien has decades of experience designing building systems and controls from mechanical and electrical to direct digital control (DDC), life safety, and fire protection. Our professionals have an extensive knowledge base that covers not only older electric, pneumatic, and electronic systems, but also the migration path of the cutting-edge systems of today. Our merger with Varo has reinforced these areas of expertise and introduced complementary ones—like automation for industrial clients.

To Salas O’Brien clients, the word “commissioning” means energy savings, lowered operating costs, and optimal environments—but a lot goes on behind the scenes to achieve these amazing results.  The field is constantly evolving, so having a trustworthy, communicative expert by your side through the process will make all the difference.

Sophisticated property owners aim to construct a building as economically as possible, and for good reason. Financial pressure is intense.

But yet, over a 30-year span, a building’s utility, maintenance, service, and system replacement costs can run between 50 to 80% of the facility’s total cost (including construction costs). The more complex the building and the more energy it uses, the higher that percentage will move within this range—especially in regions with high or increasing utility costs.

Salas O'Brien's merger with T-Squared Professional Engineers has brought us a team experienced with military projects—yet the word "military" includes a wider variety of projects than you might think. For example, a child development center owned by the U.S. Navy received engineering and LEED consulting services and achieved Silver Certification. In another case, we provided mechanical and plumbing design and LEED consulting for the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center. Monitoring weather or sea conditions and children require vastly different equipment and facilities, but our team proficiently accommodated both.

Sustainable energy and power generation have been integral parts of Salas O’Brien since the company’s inception in the 1970s. Today, our merger with Varo has expanded our impact on the energy and power industry with the addition of power transmission and distribution clients and expertise.

The term “critical environment” can refer to any environment that supports mission-critical functions of an organization, but across industries its usage varies. At Salas O’Brien, we use the term to describe a variety of environments including facilities that support mobile providers, financial institutions, broadcasters, or similar—institutions that rely on faultlessly secure and reliable facilities. But for us, it isn’t just the importance of the equipment and systems that makes a data center a critical environment.

At Salas O’Brien, whether we’re tackling a demanding project or using the latest technology to deliver excellent design solutions, we’re always growing. Our merger with Varo enables us to provide services in new markets, and as a joint team, we’re excited to see more clients in more industries and locations than ever experiencing the Salas O’Brien difference.

Salas O’Brien is passionate about giving back to the community. We give back on our own time and together as employee-owners, and we’re excited when we see our clients giving back as well.

Whether you’re looking for clothes, homewares, or the latest tech gadget, lifestyle shopping venues like the Fountains at Farah serve as the perfect one-stop-shop. Salas O’Brien has proudly partnered with dozens of shopping venues throughout the country, so when we were approached by Centergy Retail about providing services for a prime El Paso property, we readily agreed to contribute our mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design expertise.

As a nationwide planning, design, construction management, and commissioning firm, Salas O’Brien enjoys repeat project work with some of the country’s largest internet and mobile service providers. The stakes are high for these companies, and our team thrives on the challenges their business brings us.