Market: Commercial
Location: Downtown Richmond, VA
Challenge
Due to tenant occupation (Dominion Power), the Property Manager could not afford any downtime. Once started, ColonialWebb had to finish. They chose Memorial Day weekend, affording ColonialWebb only three days. There would be no time for errors. Due to the size of equipment needed, ColonialWebb coordinated with City officials to close down two blocks of downtown Richmond.
Solution
The project team realized that with such a limited onsite schedule, Pre-Fabrication was the only way to complete the work on time. ColonialWebb’s in-house fabrication team manufactured the entire 1,000 ton capacity, Evapco three cell cooling tower. Each cell of the tower had 8” connections, terminating into a 12” header.
They also manufactured approximately 100 ft of 8” steel welded pipe with Victaulic connections and approximately 200 ft of 12” steel pipe. Almost all of the welding connections were done at ColonialWebb’s Manufacturing Center, decreasing the time needed to assemble equipment onsite.
Thanks to the Manufacturing Center’s attention to detail and fast paced project schedule, everything was ready for installation ahead of time.
Saturday morning, the City closed down Main St. to Franklin St. and 8th St. to 7th St. That morning, ColonialWebb discovered that the project’s 500 ton crane wasn’t functioning. As one of only three on the East Coast, the crane could not be replaced in time to meet the project deadline. Without a functioning crane, ColonialWebb lost an entire day on an already tight schedule.
As a technician spent the day trying to fix the crane, Management opened communication with the customer and debated their options. To ensure the building would have cooling on Tuesday like they promised, ColonialWebb initiated a Plan B: They ordered a temporary air cooled chiller from New Jersey that would be piped through an elevator shaft.
A Closer Look
On Sunday morning, ColonialWebb was still unable to begin work. Twenty minutes before the temporary cooling arrived, the crane started working. Against all odds and needing to perform two days worth of work in less than one, ColonialWebb began working at 10:30AM.
Immediately, the team demoed the existing cooling tower and lifted all equipment to the roof. With no breaks, no lunch, no complaints, and a single minded effort to deliver ColonialWebb’s promise, work was completed in 12 hours.
By 10:30PM the new cooling tower was set, piped, and filled with water. On Monday, ColonialWebb’s Building Automation Systems team spent the day programming a new Tridium web-based system with Distech controllers.
Though facing a potential crisis, ColonialWebb commanded the situation with decisive action. Our dedicated technicians came together against overwhelming odds to ensure their mission was completed.
No matter the situation, we always deliver for our customers!