University of Connecticut Supplemental Utility Plant
This project is a new phased facility for the new Northwest Science District being developed by the University to provide additional research and teaching space as part of the NextGen Development Commissioning Program. The new plant includes a steam pressure reducing station, 3,000-ton chilled water plant, 4MW of emergency electrical generation, approximately 10MW of cogeneration including HRSG, and conventional boilers providing 200,000 pounds per hour of steam. Our project also includes the construction of a new electrical substation, which connects to the existing utilities located in a major right of way bordering the western side of our project. As of September of 2020, construction has started, and mass excavation is underway. Upon completion, the project is expected to be LEED Gold Certified.
The project is also being built concurrently with the adjacent Science 1 Building designed by Payette Architects and includes a major underground arterial tunnel that connects the new Supplemental Utility Plant to the UCONN Central Utility Plant several blocks away. This project is unique in that the program is the result of many months of campus-wide energy studies, interdepartmental agency cooperation, and collaboration with the University Planning Design and Construction Department which is overseen by Laura Cruickshank, Associate Vice President, Master Planner, and Chief Architect at UConn and Mike Schrier, Director of Design & STEM Projects at UConn.
Waldron Engineering as a critical project team member was tasked with developing and projecting future energy demand on campus. BVH Integrated Services, also a critical team member for this project, is the campus’s framework engineer responsible for managing the campus’s infrastructure utility routing. BOND Building Construction is overseeing the onsite construction process, and Towers Golde Landscape Architects designed a "Woodlands Corridor" as part of the Northwest Quadrant Planning Objective. The primary benefit of this utility plant is to allow UCONN to meet threshold energy requirements through this decade and beyond!