CEP Piping Expansion Begins at Children’s of Alabama

Hoar Construction recently started a piping expansion project that ties the Lowder and McWane buildings into the central energy plant on the Children’s of Alabama campus. The CEP was built to anticipate a larger load than the Benjamin Russell expansion facility and to eventually support all existing facilities on the children’s campus.

The team will take the hot and chilled water piping from the Benjamin Russell Hospital 6th Avenue tunnel into the McWane and Lowder buildings. The work will require coordinating with multiple trade partners and managing dozens of shutdowns. Much of the work will occur at night and on weekends to minimize the effects to hospital patients and employees.

The CEP, originally designed to handle the load of the McWane and Lowder buildings, produces hot and chilled water not being used. When the project is complete, the hospital will be able to discontinue using the existing boilers and chillers used to create hot/chilled water for the McWane and Lowder buildings. Work will coincide with weather seasons to minimize the amount of temporary heating and cooling required.

The project will include demolition of an existing elevator shaft to create a new pipe chase and make room for the installation of a smaller elevator. Along with the piping expansion, multiple equipment items will be replaced including multiple air handlers, heat exchangers and air handler coils. Also included are two new duel fuel boilers at the CEP and supporting infrastructure including a large two-story boiler flue. Work is scheduled to be complete in December 2019.