UM Infrastructure Projects Move Forward

A $7 million project to replace two chiller units for the University of Michigan Willard H. Dow Laboratory and the Chemistry Building at 930 N. University, where the lab is located, was approved by UM regents at their Sept. 20, 2012 meeting. It was one of two infrastructure improvements on Ann Arbor’s central campus that were authorized by the board.

According to a staff memo, until 2010 there were three steam-absorption chillers for the building. One was replaced in 2010, and the $7 million project aims to replace the other two with new electric chillers, pumps, piping, controls, and a new electrical substation. Staff estimates there will be a $600,000 annual energy savings after the replacement.

Regents also authorized a $1.2 million project to replace two hydraulic elevators and related equipment with two overhead traction elevators at the Modern Languages Building, 812 E. Washington. The project includes construction of a new rooftop penthouse mechanical room. The current elevators were installed in 1972 when the building was constructed, and according to staff they are increasingly difficult to maintain.

This brief was filed from the Michigan Union’s Anderson Room on the Ann Arbor campus, where regents held their September meeting.