RMF developed near term and long-range utility master plans for the central chilled water and high temperature hot water systems infrastructure serving the George Mason University Fairfax Campus and implemented the first several phases of improvement. The original plant served 2,200,000 SF of facilities and was faced with the challenge of supporting over 3,590,000 SF of new facilities identified in the six-year capital outlay program. GMU was already facing a chiller plant capacity shortfall of 1,000 tons and could not fully utilize its underground ice storage system because of the deficiency.
RMF provided a complete study, contract design documents and construction period services for successive phases of implementation. The first phase of plant renovation included the replacement of two existing chillers, cooling towers and pumps with two new 1,000 ton chillers, cooling towers and pumps, 13.2 kV/5 kV transformers, switchgear, motor control centers, variable frequency drives, controls and instrumentation, and a new 60,000 gallon above-ground fuel oil tank farm and distribution piping to support the HTHW plant.
The next phase of plant expansion included extending the Central Plant to both the south and the east to accommodate a total of three new 1,400-ton chillers, and associated pumping and free cooling heat exchanger and a new 27 MMBH high temperature hot water generator (375°F). In addition, multiple phases of utility distribution extensions were designed to support the expanding campus.
