cnx_vinyl/docs/site-candidates.md

# Site Candidates

The site strategy is a long lease of raw land on which the purpose-built
plant is constructed (business plan section 6.1, built from
`business-plan/build/`). What any site has to offer is unchanged: ~4 rai
minimum and 6 to 8 rai with expansion, truck access and turning, room for
the cooling tower and a separated battery enclosure, a 500 to 1,000 kVA
medium-voltage connection, a slab rated 3 t/m² and a frame able to carry
the overhead crane ([scale](scale.md),
[crane, workshop and tours](crane-workshop-tours.md)), factory permission
for pressing with a steam boiler, and, for Phase 5, permission for an
electroplating line ([galvanics and stamper prep](equipment/galvanics.md)).

## The three candidates

| | Mueang Chi, Lamphun | Northern Region Industrial Estate, Lamphun | Payap University land, Chiang Mai |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Working candidate: the massing model, PV roof design and [construction RFQ](finance/phase1-construction-rfq.md) are sited here | Fallback | New lead (October 2026): the university approached the project and is interested in leasing land to us |
| Lessor | Private owner | IEAT | Payap University (private, non-profit, founded by the Foundation of the Church of Christ in Thailand) |
| Plot | 5-0-66.5 rai, 18.4708 N, 98.9642 E, narrow and skewed | Leased estate plots | Not yet identified. The main (Mae Khao) campus is at 18.795 N, 99.033 E |
| Distance to Chiang Mai old city | ~35 km | Lamphun valley | ~5 km east, on the Chiang Mai–Lampang superhighway |
| Zoning for factory use | Unverified (agricultural land) | Industrial estate; licensing through the estate | Unverified |
| Galvanics effluent | Ours to permit; zero discharge | Shared central effluent treatment | Needs the lessor's consent on top of the permit |
| Neighbours | Agricultural | Industrial | A pharmaceutical facility under construction on the same land |

## Payap University (new lead, October 2026)

**What we know from the conversation:** Payap University is interested in
leasing land to the project, and a pharmaceutical facility is under
construction on the same land. The plot, its size, the title, the term and
the rent are not known yet.

**Public facts.** Payap's main campus, Mae Khao, is at 272 Moo 2, San
Phranet, San Sai district, on the Chiang Mai–Lampang superhighway. The
university bought it in 1974 as about 120 acres of low-lying land and has
since grown it to about 275 acres (~700 rai) with purchases across the ring
road (Payap's own history page). Its Faculty of Pharmacy put the
construction of a cosmetics production facility and co-working space out to
tender in July 2024, and the university has announced a centre for
producing active compounds from cannabis and medicinal plants by bioreactor
(RPAH) with an industry sponsor. Whether either of these is the
pharmaceutical facility on the offered land is to be confirmed.

**Why it is worth pursuing.**

- **Location.** About 5 km from the old city and 25 to 30 km nearer the
  team, customers and the airport than Mueang Chi. The
  [visitor corridor](crane-workshop-tours.md), the
  [artist platform](artist-platform.md) and hiring all work better in town.
- **A partner, not only a landlord.** Payap also wants to build new
  student programmes with us in audio engineering (mastering, lathe
  cutting), IT and business administration; that strand has its own page,
  [Payap partnership](payap-partnership.md). Its Faculty of Pharmacy has
  analytical labs that could back the PVC material lab
  ([quality automation](quality-automation.md)), and a formal university
  collaboration is the kind of R&D and skills cooperation the
  [BOI](boi.md) merit measures reward; confirm which measure applies.
- **Production is already being built there.** If the pharmaceutical
  facility has factory permission, the land may already have a path
  through licensing and a medium-voltage supply nearby. Shared
  infrastructure (MV connection, RO water, effluent treatment) is worth
  asking about.

**What could rule it out** (check in this order, before any design work):

1. **Zoning.** The plot's colour in the Chiang Mai comprehensive city plan
   and whether it allows a record-pressing factory with a steam boiler and,
   later, electroplating. A pharmaceutical or cosmetics plant and an
   electroplating line are different factory classes, so the neighbour's
   permit proves little. Ask the provincial public works and town planning
   office, as for Mueang Chi.
2. **Can the university lease to a company?** Title type (Chanote needed),
   university council approval, and whether campus land of a private
   higher-education institution carries restrictions on commercial leases.
   This is a question for Thai counsel, together with the lease terms the
   business plan already requires (registered 30-year lease with renewal,
   building ownership, mortgageable).
3. **The pharmaceutical neighbour.** A GMP facility is sensitive to dust,
   smoke and fumes. Ours: the boiler stack (biomass smoke next to a
   pharmaceutical plant in town would be a hard sell, which favours
   electric or LPG steam; see [biomass](biomass.md)), galvanics extraction,
   PVC extrusion fumes, press noise and truck traffic. Agree emission and
   buffer rules in the lease rather than after the first complaint.
4. **Flooding.** Payap describes the Mae Khao land as low-lying when bought.
   Check the plot against the 2024 flood extents; the design's floor, 1.2 m
   above ground for the loading docks, helps but is not a flood
   assessment.
5. **Plot fit.** Shape and size against the 60 × 25 m building, the
   detached utility yard and the phase 2 footprint (6 to 8 rai). The
   Payap scenario model below needs a 150 m square (14.1 rai) as drawn,
   with room for ten more Classics, a colour store and a reserve.
6. **Galvanics on a campus.** Phase 5 electroplating needs the lessor's
   written consent; the zero-discharge design
   ([sustainability](sustainability.md)) becomes a lease condition, not
   only a commitment.

**Questions for the next meeting with Payap:** which plot (map, size,
title deed number), its zoning and current use; what the pharmaceutical
facility is, who operates it and when it opens; what utilities it brings
(MV, water, wastewater); lease term, rent, renewal and building ownership;
what collaboration the university wants in return.

Nothing has been re-sited. The parametric model, PV roof study, RFQ and
the fleet site code `lpn` in the [digital factory](digital-factory.md)
stay on Mueang Chi until a Payap plot is known and has passed checks 1
and 2.

### Payap scenario model (October 2026)

To see the plant on Payap land before a plot is known, a separate
parametric BIM model sites it on a simple square plot:
[cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap.FCStd](cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap.FCStd)
(top view [PNG](cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap.png),
[isometric](cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap-iso.png)), built in FreeCAD 26.3
from BIM walls, slabs, columns, stairs, spaces and equipment. Every size
and position hangs off its `Params` spreadsheet (plot side, setbacks,
floor level, building sizes, fire wall and crane lines, upper floor
level, office and water treatment gaps), so the square can be swapped for
the real plot once Payap names one. It is a layout sketch: every position
and every equipment envelope is an estimate.

- **Plot**: 150 × 150 m (22,500 m², 14.1 rai), road assumed on the south
  side, 6 m setbacks (placeholder). That is about twice the 6 to 8 rai of
  [scale](scale.md): the factory keeps room for ten more Classics and a
  colour store, and the plot keeps a reserve in front for a second hall
  or a PV field.
- **Factory, production floor only**: 128 × 25 m at floor level +1.2 m,
  16 frame bays, in process order along a 98 m glazed visitor corridor.
  From west to east:
  - staff entry (PPE, WC);
  - workshop and spares, with the machine door and a 12 m vehicle ramp
    at the north-west corner;
  - the galvanics clean room with a chemical day store, open to stamper
    prep (no wall between them);
  - PVC lab, regrind and conveying, the electrical room;
  - the colour store;
  - the press hall;
  - the two-storey finishing and print block;
  - behind the fire wall at 106 m, the warehouse and dispatch with two
    dock doors.

  Inside it:
  - **Colour store** (~180 m²): pallet racking for the tens of colours
    that special designs need, about 100 positions on four levels
    (estimate), with weighing and mixing and a vacuum conveying station
    ([pressing line](equipment/pressing-line.md)).
  - **Press hall** (~870 m²): two Duplex systems, each two HRP 12 presses
    with an EX 50 and an EX 35, the Classic, and ten more Classic
    positions in two rows. Each Duplex is one operator's cell of about
    5 × 3 m at Newbilt's machine sizes: presses either side turned
    towards the operator, the extruders behind him, one trimmer in front
    ([pressing line](equipment/pressing-line.md)).
  - **One shared hydraulic and compressed-air supply**: a central plant
    room (~62 m²) at the west end of the press hall, and a service trench
    along the press rows for the hydraulic ring main, compressed air,
    steam and cooling water.
  - **Finishing and print block**, 14 × 25 m on two levels, beyond the
    end of the crane runway
    ([plans](cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap-block.png)).
    - Ground floor: trim and optical inspection, the QC lab, and
      packaging (~170 m²) with packing tables, shrink wrap and a pallet
      wrapper next to the fire shutter into the warehouse.
    - Upper floor at +3.8 m: a print room kept in reserve (in-house
      printing is not decided; jackets come from a print partner today,
      [production timeline](production-timeline.md)), the print stock
      (paper, board) and the packaging materials (sleeves, inner bags,
      mailers, cartons).
    - A stair and a goods lift connect the floors. Heavy compound stays
      on the ground floor.
  - The workshop (~200 m²) is fully equipped, with 3D printers, a lathe
    and a small CNC mill among the tools
    ([crane, workshop and tours](crane-workshop-tours.md)).
  - The 5 t crane runs from the west wall to the end of the press hall.
- **PVC silos** (proposed), outside on the north side of the lane:
  - two for black, two for standard colours, ~50 m³ each (estimate);
  - a big-bag filling station;
  - buried conveying lines to the colour store.
- **Water treatment building**, separate, 12 × 10 m at ground level
  directly behind galvanics: zero-discharge effluent treatment, the DI
  water plant and the chemical store. A buried duct carries the effluent
  by gravity from the galvanics floor, and a covered crossing (6 m clear
  for trucks) joins the galvanics door
  ([galvanics](equipment/galvanics.md)).
- **Office building, isolated from the factory floor**: 32 × 15 m on two
  storeys, ~960 m² of floor
  ([floor plans](cnx_vinyl_parametric_payap-office.png)). It stands 12 m
  south of the factory on its own slab and structure, joined by a covered
  link that lands at the start of the visitor corridor. A stair and a lift
  connect the floors.
  - Ground floor, for staff and the studio: reception and lobby, a canteen
    for about 40 with its kitchen, changing rooms for women and men with
    four showers each, toilets, mastering and cutting with an inner
    acoustic lining, the listening room and the archive. Staff change here
    before crossing to the factory, whose staff entry keeps only PPE and a
    WC.
  - First floor: the offices (~150 m²), a meeting and training room (the
    [Payap programmes](payap-partnership.md)), a meeting room, the IT and
    server room, toilets, a pantry, and a flexible room for a second
    classroom or more offices.
  - The lathe sits on the ground slab, away from press vibration and
    outside the crane zone.
- **Utility yard** behind the press hall, across a 6 m lane:
  - boiler house with chimney and a covered fuel store;
  - chiller and cooling tower;
  - a raw water tank (5 m × 3 m, as in the phase 1 RFQ);
  - PEA transformer;
  - a pipe bridge that drops into the service trench.

  Boiler, chiller and transformer are drawn at the one-Duplex sizes. They
  need re-sizing for five presses, and again if the Classics are added
  ([scale](scale.md)).
- **Fire water** at the front, reachable from the frontage without
  entering the production yard
  ([facility security](facility-security.md#fire-water-supply)): a
  9 m × 4 m tank (~200 m³ usable, planning figure) on a ring foundation,
  with a pump house for the duty (electric), standby (diesel) and jockey
  pumps. The model's 6 m warehouse racking and its larger buildings will
  raise the volume; the hydraulic design sets it.
- **Access**:
  - one main gate on the south side, as in the
    [phase 1 RFQ](finance/phase1-construction-rfq.md): piers and two 5 m
    sliding leaves, 10 m clear;
  - the guard house beside it on the gate's north-west side, 4 × 3 m with
    a WC and air conditioning, and a boom barrier just inside the gate
    that car and truck traffic both pass;
  - an 8 m gate road to a truck apron and dock face in front of the dock
    doors. The apron is 32 m deep, about twice the 16.5 m of an
    articulated truck reversing to a dock (estimate), and joins the
    service road round the east end. That makes ~2,150 m² of heavy-duty
    paving, against 1,608 m² for apron, dock face and internal road in
    the Mueang Chi RFQ;
  - an access road runs along the south boundary to the car park, with
    a footpath to the office;
  - a lane behind the factory serves the yard, the silos, the water
    treatment building and the ramp. The low-loader's swept path at the
    ramp still needs checking.
- **Area**: about 3,200 m² of factory plus a 350 m² upper floor, a 480 m²
  office footprint (~960 m² on two floors) and 120 m² of water treatment:
  ~3,800 m² under roof plus the boiler house, and ~4,630 m² of floor.
  That is about twice the 1,400 to 2,000 m² of the [scale](scale.md) zone
  table, which held one Duplex and an automated zone with the offices
  inside.
  - Most of the difference is the press hall with its expansion floor,
    the colour store and the finishing and print block.
  - Warehouse and dispatch (~530 m²) are drawn above that table's 300 to
    500 m² for packaging and finished goods.

  All of it is an estimate to settle against the real plot.

The Mueang Chi model and everything sited on it stay as they are.