Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer
LEED Accredited Green Building Professional

Veteran Owned Business, Women Owned Business

 

Providing architects and builders in Western Washington with electrical design service and green building expertise, to meet client's goals and budget.

We are a member firm of the Investigative Engineers Association, providing forensic engineering services to investigate, document, test, and secure property/evidence and providing accurate reporting for the property and casualty insurance industry.

Services:

Power system studies: short circuit, arc flash, and selective coordination

Forensic engineering and fire investigation

Multi-family and mixed-use electrical design
Commercial and light industrial electrical design                  
Educational electrical design for offices, labs, and classrooms
Health care facilities: electrical design or upgrades
Developments: dry utility design and street lighting
Remodels and tenant improvements

Emergency power system design
Transformer and electrical system upgrades
Grounding systems design
Interconnect design for Photovoltaic systems
Electrical design for hazardous locations

Lighting design for indoor, outdoor, street lighting and parking areas.
Theatrical lighting design
Photometric studies: indoor and outdoor

Project management

Investigative Engineering

Our engineers and technicians went through intensive training developed with more than 70 years of combined experience by the Advisory Board of the Investigative Engineers Association (IENGA). Engineering investigations are timely, ethical and accurate. The investigations use the scientific method to gather facts and evidence to create an objective report based on expert, justified opinion.

Schira Consulting is a local member of IENGA. We combine in-house expertise with access to the IENGA network resources in over 150 categories of forensic engineering. Trained in Fire and Explosions Origin and Cause, Vehicular Accident Reconstruction, Building Envelope Failure, Corrosion Damage, Equipment Failure, Appliance and Wiring Malfunction, Slip Trip and Fall, and other investigations. Through the IENGA network we have access to expertise from every engineering discipline and a library of reference reports and research based on decades of investigations.

IENGA

To learn more about forensic engineering and the I-ENG-A network of engineers, see our webpage

I-ENG-A of Puget Sound Investigative Engineering Website

We will provide an Investigation, precise documentation of Findings and Observations, Analysis, Concise and Conclusive Reporting, and when needed, Expert Testimony.

 

Electrical Studies

Short Circuit Studies calculate utility fault current and motor contributions to determine the available fault current at each point in the electrical system to make sure that protective devices, panels, switchgear, cables, and transformers are appropriately rated.

Arc Flash and Shock Hazard studies find the incident energy at each location in the system. The study provides a flash boundary and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirements for each bus. We provide stickers and in conjunction with Southpaw Art and Design plaques (non conductive phenolic labels) for each location to warn maintenance personnel. PPE needs to be robust enough for appropriate protection, but light enough for mobility and visibility. The study and labels provide this balance of utility and NEC mandated protection.

Selective Coordination studies analyze the protective equipment and settings so that overcurrent events can be localized and restrict outages to the circuit or equipment effected. We evaluate gear lists and make recommendations on the equipment settings or suggest alternate protective devices to localize system outages in pusrsuit of service continuity.

We use SKM Systems Analysis software for our power studies. This software is used by over 45,000 engineers in more than 80 countries. SKM software has been in use for 45 years to analyze electrical systems.

Portfolio

Mixed Use, Multi Family

Africatown – Seven story, mixed-use, multi-family building in Seattle, WA.

FH1

Fairhaven Harbor – Five story mixed-use, multi-family residential and commercial with two parking levels.

 

EA1

Elwood Avenue – Three building complex, mixed-use, multi-family. A seven story, commercial and residential building with two parking levels.  A seven story, commercial and residential building with three parking levels. A three story office building with one parking level. Conducted short circuit studies, arc fault studies, and selective coordination studies on buildings #2 and #3.

 

SS1

Samish Studios – Three Building complex, mixed-use, multi-family. A five story, commercial and residential building with one parking level.  Two six story buildings with residential and parking levels.

Bakerview Commons – Six story, multi-family residential building with one parking level.

 

 

Commercial/Industrial

Convenience Store – New corporate headquarters for Yorkston Oil, Inc.

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Lummi Nation Commodity Foods – Electrical power upgrade and fiber optic node relocation design for remodel to support conversion of an adjacent building from offices to a warehouse and for a community kitchen expansion.            

American Canadian Fisheries – Upgrade to a light industrial fish processing plant to provide power for new equipment and to consolidate multiple service entrances.
                                   

Island Reality – New construction. Power and lighting design for a single-story commercial building.

North Fork Wells – Grounding grid system for utility scale water pumps for the Tacoma Water District.
                                  

COBWTP1

City of Bellingham Wastewater Treatment Plant – Interconnection design to put the administration building on the emergency power system.

                 

Education

Electrical Apprentice Program– Created a bank of 800 questions to test the quality of the electrical apprenticeship program. Adapted the Idaho program to the current Washington State textbooks.

Reference Videos – Rewrote old video lesson plans and created new video lesson plans for new functions for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018-2021.

 

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Coast Salish Institute – New 12,700 sf college building for Northwest Indian College with power distribution, and many specialty lighting packages were required: classrooms, cultural artifact displays, a small theater, offices, public areas, and the building exterior.
                                   

Sakai Middle School – 5 KW solar system design.
                                   

Pioneer Meadows Montessori School – Electrical service for adding a modular classroom to campus.
                 

Health Care
                                   

Stafholdt Good Samaritan – Electrical remodel to a 57 bed assisted living facility and to convert a wing to a new skilled nursing facility. Existing emergency and non-emergency systems needed to be untangled and brought to code.
                                   

Nooksack Nation Administration, Community Center, and Health Clinic – Sized emergency generators for all 3 buildings.
                                   

Alderwood assisted living facility – Design review for limited remodel upgrade and emergency power.
                                   

Lummi Nation Outreach center – Repurposing of an existing building for mental health services, requiring power distribution diagnostics with Dahl electric to reconcile a snarl of elements and design and refit for code compliance.

 

Municipal Parks and Rec
                                 

MHP1

Maritime Heritage Park – Outdoor lighting, photometrics, Class 1 Division 2 standards.
                                   

 

HSP1

Harriet Spanel Park – Added a light standard and expanded the irrigation controls.

Odlin Park – Upgrade of a San Juan county park to provide power to new RV sites, a new bathroom, and expansion capacity for the park office.
                                   

Barkley Park – Added pedestrian lights and photovoltaic sensor for safety in pedestrian tunnel.
                                   

Jacob Smith House –Upgrade of exterior lighting and irrigation controls for special events as a revenue enhancer for the city of Lacey.

 

About

Celt M. SchiraCelt

Celt started Schira Consulting in 2001 and has over 30 years of progressive experience in electrical engineering design of power, lighting, telecommunications, and renewable energy projects. She believes that initial professional electrical design saves clients money in construction, operations, maintenance and future building reuse. She has designed both new construction and remodels of commercial multi-story mixed-use buildings, health care facilities, light industrial campuses, schools, colleges, parks, and military facilities.

Todd J. MooreTodd

Todd began working as an electrical design technician at Schira Consulting in 2016 after finishing his B.S. in Civil Engineering Technology.  He’s used his CADD drafting skills on a variety of residential, commercial, light industrial, and municipal recreational projects. He believes that thoughtful electrical and lighting design make owners and users quality of life better. His background in academic debate and education has been surprisingly relevant to a variety of projects. 

Dustin Schmidt

Dustin began working at Schira Consulting in 2020 as an electrical design intern while pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering. He finished his Electrical Engineering Associates Degree with a certification in Sustainability and his Electrical Engineering Bachelors Degree from Western Washington University. He was an electronics bench technician in logistics and communications gear and had a focus in quality assurance. He also has experience in micro-manufacturing and laser engraving.

 

Contact

Phone - (360) 756-8957

Mail - 1028 12th Street Bellingham, WA 98225

 

 

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