As part of a life cycle upgrade of the building, the owners determined to upgrade the central plant. This involved the conversion of the air cooled to a water-cooled system. The installation commenced in AMS's workshops where two new Smardt water-cooled chillers and a new cooling tower were all mounted on steel frames over a period of weeks. All the associated pipework was sized and pre-frabricated and the chilled and condensing pumps installed on the same frames.

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Preparatory work was undertaken in building prior to the major work being undertaken. With the approval of both the owners and tenants, the building was closed slightly early on a Friday, the plant decommissioned and works begun to dismantle the plant. On the Saturday, all new plant on its skids was loaded onto trucks and taken to site. At the same time, the existing plant was readied and craned off the roof and the site prepared for the new plants. Once it was delivered, it was lifted into place and commencing that afternoon, installation started which continued through Sunday.

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The plant ran Sunday night and while the control upgrade was not complete, the plant was operated manually on Monday morning. The removal of the controls and upgrade to the latest Alerton system with no external overlay was completed during the following week at which stage the building ran automatically and exceeded the client's expectations. 

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The benefits were that the plant was far more efficient with immediate energy savings and an improved NABERS rating. The plant was easier to control and more responsive, and the full approximate 20-year life expectancy of the plant was fully restored. 

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The works were undertaken from the tenant's perspective, over two weekend days without any interruptions to their businesses and no contingency plans were needed. The owners were delighted because the tenants were happy and did not lose any productivity through the upgrade. The new chillers are fitted with Smardt chiller controls to ensure optimum performance.