This past summer, Facilities Management (FM) completed what was a year-long project that included Building Maintenance Services (BMS), Utilities, Energy & Engineering, Transportation Services construction, Design, and Construction Management (DCM), and a contractor at the Med Sci D building.

It all started as a Deferred Maintenance project for the FM HVAC shop to replace a 30-year-old chiller at Med Sci D. During the estimate phase, FM HVAC project manager Joe Lestanguet was approached with an idea from Val Gheorghita at DCM that would help support a future DCM project. DCM was looking to upgrade the building’s chilled water process loop. They also wanted to run the loop off the campus chilled water from the Central Heating and Cooling Plant. Utilities could locate nearby access to the campus chilled water at Med Sci D, enabling DCM to combine their project with FM teams.

The project began with Transportation Services (TS) construction creating an access point in the asphalt along with Med Sci D. This allowed the Utilities underground construction group, led by Jason Balukoff, to dig a 210-foot trench across the parking lot from Vet Med 3a to Med Sci D. With a team of workers and heavy equipment, they safely made their way installing the 6-inch chilled water lines until they were in the utility yard at Med Sci D. Once the underground work was complete the TS construction group returned to replace all of the asphalt as well as the concrete curbs that were removed.

It was now in the hands of BMS shops to cut over the campus chilled water line. The HVAC sheet metal shop removed the old chiller while the steam shop, organized by Jacob Bice, prefabbed all of the pipes in their welding shop. Upon removing the chiller, the steam shop team could bolt the piping into place. By pre-fabricating the pipe, the steam shop kept the cut-over time down to two days, allowing the customer to return to research as soon as possible. Electrician Stanley Bishop worked with Eric Davis in the HVAC controls group to gain power and controls to the new chilled water system.

At this point, DCM Project Manager Eric Paulantonio was able to bring in a contractor to install a chilled water process loop along with a heat exchanger. The FM HVAC controls shop came in and connected the Siemens control system to the new heat exchanger so we can now both view the process remotely and alarm it to help protect critical research. 

This incredible joint venture is now complete with the construction portion; however, the project is still active in the Energy and Engineering group. Sam Cole and Dan Colvin are monitoring the energy savings of this project and estimate an annual savings of $2,000.

The work at Med Sci D is another excellent example of what we are capable of building when we work together with the resources we have here on campus.