This project involved the replacement of three old York centrifugal chillers (using R123) , with four new Aermec water cooled, twin screw chillers with a total output of 3,000 kilowatts.

The existing machines, weighing many tons, and indeed the new chillers, had to be dismantled and manhandled through some ninety metres of basement corridors to the main plant room. Specialist heavy moving teams were used to carry out this work, most of it during normal hours when adjacent studios were in constant use.

The system was also converted to a primary and secondary pumping system, involving all new pumps, pressurisation equipment, and new 12” diameter headers at high level in the plant room, all of which required detailed planning and execution. This involved many ‘pipe freeze’ operations, carried out at night, to facilitate the connections between old and new pipework. Another major factor was the detailed measurement and ‘off site’ fabrication of pipe sections, to minimise complications within the confines of a basement plant room.