Facilities management

Grinnell College

Infrastructure Phase - the Dig

The Energy Center Project is entering into the infrastructure phase of construction, which entails the underground installation of three critical campus utilities:

Steam piping that provides almost all of the core campus buildings efficient and reliable central steam service for building heating, domestic water heating, humidification and other specialty applications (cooking, autoclaves, etc.);
Chilled water piping that supplies very efficient and reliable air conditioning to many of the core campus buildings; and
Communications conduits provide a needed centralized path for current and future telephone and data services.

The existing utility infrastructure cannot deliver these services for both existing and new buildings due to restrictions in size and location. As such, a new utility infrastructure system coupled with the new boiler plant (located near Cowles Hall on 10th Ave) and the expanded chiller plant (located near Science on 8th Ave) will deliver centralized steam and chilled water to existing and future campus buildings. Centralized heating and cooling eliminate the need to install individual (or decentralized) boilers, furnaces or air conditioners building by building, which in turn provides the following benefits:

Highly-efficient equipment with the latest technology is concentrated at central heating and cooling plants as opposed to varied equipment efficiencies decentralized,
Less total heating and cooling equipment is needed due to diversity in peak building demands,
Aesthetically-objectionable boiler stacks and noisy air conditioning units (like the unit south of Steiner) at individual buildings can be eliminated,
Frees up space in and around buildings which would be allocated to decentralized heating/cooling equipment and
Centralized plants are very reliable and services are available year-round.

The scheduled dates for the individual segments of underground construction have been changed to reflect later production dates for the piping material Excavations for this project will begin approximately April 1st, 2002 and will continue through approximately September 20th, 2002. As such, these excavations will impact spring semester and Summer Programs. There will also be restoration efforts that will extend into fall semester. A campus map that details the excavation route and associated schedule for segments of the route will be distributed to various departments and groups. A large map will be posted at the Forum in the northwest vestibule.

In most cases, accommodations will be made for foot traffic where "main" sidewalks are removed. The three following street closings are necessary for utility crossings: