CIAT Delivers Chiller Replacement at London Hospital

CIAT UK completed a major turnkey project for Bouygues Energies & Services to replace chillers at Central Middlesex Hospital in North London, involving a chiller installation on the hottest day ever recorded in the UK.

The project included the supply of two high performance air-cooled PowerCIAT chillers with a combined cooling capacity of over 1.5MW, management of logistics for removal of existing chillers, as well as installation and commissioning of the new units. The units supply critical cooling for the hospital’s operating theatres, wards, public spaces and administration offices.

The project required careful planning to ensure continuity of cooling to the hospital throughout the changeover, allowing for uninterrupted vital services. “The chillers were replaced in two stages with a four-week proving stage in between, to ensure cooling could be maintained without pause,” said Cammy Singh, project manager, Bouygues E&S FM UK Limited, Central Middlesex Hospital.

“We were fortunate in that one of the existing chillers was no longer operational, and we were able to remove this first and replace it with one of the new PowerCIAT units while the other chiller continued to meet cooling demand.”

He added: “Once we were happy the new CIAT unit was performing well and rock solid, we were able to switch off the legacy chiller and lift the second PowerCIAT into position. Installation and commissioning of the second chiller coincided with the hottest day ever recorded in the UK – 38.7degrees Celsius in nearby Cambridge.”

This project included fabrication of new pipe work to accommodate the different connections required for the new chillers, managing crane age and logistics for lift-and-shift of the old units, installation of the new chillers, and pressure testing, refilling and commissioning.

The new chillers are now being connected to the hospital’s Building Management System to optimize energy efficiency and control of conditions across the building.
“We worked closely throughout with CIAT UK’s contract manager Stephen Brown, who managed the whole process from start to finish in a highly professional manner and delivered a first-class result,” said Singh.