NBC Central Plant

In December of 2004 one of the two gas fired chillers and the pony chiller failed simultaneously at the NBC Tower in downtown San Diego. By July of 2005, the new central plant was online serving the needs of the 22 floors of tenant space.

Tanner Engineering in partnership with Cartmell and Associates was selected to provide design engineering and consulting services for the upgrade of the 23rd floor central plant. The project consisted of upgrading the plant to modern and more efficient technology as well as resolving the emergency cooling needs of the tower.

The team was selected for it’s ability to quickly mobilize design resources and fast track the coordination of the equipment vendors and contractors in order to bring the new plant online in record time.

The entire top floor central plant and primary electrical distribution for the tower was upgraded or directly replaced. The tower’s main bus electrical risers were also at a critical point and had maxed out of capacity, therefore an additional 2500A bus riser was designed and installed up the 350 foot tall tower within the central core of the building.

The main service switchboard was completely rebuilt and the bussing redesigned to accommodate the additional building load. The 60’s era modified switchboard underwent rigorous UL inspections and the final design was fully approved by all agencies.

Owner:
American Asset Management
Architect/Lead:
Cartmell and Associates

Size:
330,000 sq ft
Value:
$3 million