This 1-1/2 year project replaced the existing Polymer chiller plant, located on the west side of E-Lab II, with a new North chiller plant that is capable of roughly triple the capacity of its current chilled water service. In addition, the building was designed and located in such a way to acknowledge the vision of the Campus Master Plan (issued in 2012) and the Engineering “quadrant” it resides in. The North Plant will provide a “visual learning” element to the Engineering quad community, with perimeter glazing at ground level, showcasing a fully operational chiller plant facility. At the existing ISB chiller plant, this project has made improvements through additional equipment installed for reliability and redundancy in parallel with the anticipated additions of the Design Building and fully-outfitted Life Science Laboratories, including a new Data Center, to its chilled water service loop. The physical construction phase will be completed to the “public eye” in August 2017, but testing of the systems will continue until February 2018.
Project completed: 69,258 work hours
Women: 7.1% work hours
People of Color: 18.4% work hours
Owners Project Manager: UMass Amherst -Ted Mendoza
Construction Manager: Fontaine Brothers
Estimated Construction Timeline: October 2016 – December 2017