Future Projects | Facilities Management

Rose Street Utility Upgrades

Scope

The 2016 Utility Master Plan recommended the extension of steam and chilled water utilities within the Rose Street corridor from Columbia Avenue to Avenue of Champions, and west toward the Student Center. This infrastructure will provide system redundancy, support future campus growth, and alleviate chilled water system delivery constraints related to Cooling 2 on S. Upper Street.

Steam infrastructure adjacent to the Gatton Student Center has been identified as a high-risk single point of failure. Facilities north of Avenue of Champions are also on a single radial feed for Chilled Water.

Central Utility Plant #2

Scope

The University of Kentucky is adding new square footage to campus that will add significant power, steam, and chilled water demands to the utility system. A new Central Utility Plant (CUP #2) is in conceptual design development.
This plant will be fitted out in Phase 1 with chilled water and steam needs to support immediate growth, with expansion capability.

Cooling Tower Phase 4

Scope

Cooling Towers are an integral part of the production of chilled water. They cool condenser water to allow the refrigeration cycle to continue inside the chiller. Cooling Plant 1 has (4) 4500-ton cooling towers that have failed and need replacement. In 2019 UEM started a multi-phased Cooling Tower project to replace each of these cooling towers.

UK CPMD will have completed 3 of 4 phases as of FY22. A fourth phase is necessary to fully replace cooling tower equipment and enable full capacity of Cooling 1.

Storm & Sanitary Sewer Upgrades & Master Plan

Scope

The University has more than 24 miles of sanitary sewer and 49 miles of storm water underground infrastructure that are interconnected with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) conveyance systems. While the overall system is in fair condition, some sections adjacent to Shawneetown and MI King Library have been identified as poor and prioritized for repair. UEM is also engaging in a comprehensive system analysis to define further strategic needs.

High Voltage Switch Upgrades

Scope

UK’s old standard electric distribution manhole switches suffer from a primary safety concern—operation and maintenance require confined space entry, which increases operator risk (the 2016 utilities master plan recommended replacement of all manhole switches for this reason) and decreases resilience (due to extra setup time for switching). The new standard pad-mount switches eliminate these risk factors, provide an internal ground position to increase safety during maintenance and testing, and introduce physical separation between the operation and termination compartments for added protection.