Epstein provided DesignBuild services for a 650,000-square-foot pork processing plant for Prestage Foods of Iowa in Eagle Grove, Iowa. This facility, located on a 155-acre site on the corner of Pierce Avenue and 43rd Street, was designed to process approximately 600 million pounds of pork annually.
This Prestage pork plant has a maximum height of 45 feet (not including structure for mechanical equipment) and provides on-site parking to accommodate 1000 employees a shift.
The building is situated on the southern half of the site and there are several outbuildings, including a guardhouse, rendering facility, and waste water treatment facility (all north of the main building).
Epstein's engineers designed numerous features for this facility which will help benefit the environment. These design items include the aforementioned on-site rendering facility which will process inedible portions into value added non-edible products. An added benefit of onsite rendering is that it reduces the number of over the road trucks coming in and out of the Prestage facility.
In addition, scrubbers were designed for all the exhaust vents in the rendering facility which will help to eliminate odors. Another odor fighting design element includes completely covering waste water lagoons to eliminate fumes and also to allow for the capture of methane generated during the treatment process. The methane is then used in the Prestage facility boilers to lessen the natural gas requirements.
