Central Utility Plants

Central Plants | CUP | MEP Central Utility Room

Central Utility Plant Design

CUPs are complex to design and need unique skills and knowledge from designers. At RWB, one of our specialties is design for central utility plants. That’s why owners across North Texas trust RWB Consulting Engineers to design their central plant.

Principal from RWB Consulting Engineers stands beneath cooling tower to show group of young engineers the mechanical design

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What is a CUP?

CUP is an abbreviation for Central Utility Plant. A central utility plant is the epicenter of the mechanical, electrical and sometimes plumbing systems that serve the building or many buildings on a site.

The CUP is home to all major mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment. Most equipment that supports the operation of the campus will be at the CUP. Some examples include power, water, and air conditioning equipment. More specifically, the generators, chillers, boilers, main pumps, central receiving, or centralized air compressor or other utility systems.

Many people refer to the CUP as the heart of a building system, while others refer to it as the workhorse. Either way, the CUP is the center point for building systems. It does most, if not all, the work to supply connected buildings.

Where can I find CUPs?

Sometimes people ask, where is my CUP located? It’s important to note that not every building has a CUP.

Typically, central utility plants are reserved groups of buildings that may or may not be physically connected. Some examples of where you might find a CUP campus-style buildings like:

Universities, colleges, and other higher-education campuses
Corporate campuses, like the American Airlines Flight Training Academy buildings
Medical campuses
K-12 facilities with multiple buildings

In standalone buildings, the equipment that serves the building is located inside or somewhere nearby.

As you can see in the image to the left, there can be dedicated space for MEP equipment in lots of spaces. Equipment can be found within the building, off to the sides, above, or even below. With a central utility plant, the system needs are grouped for multiple buildings into a separate, nearby location.

Why do buildings have central utility plants?

The purpose of a central utility plant is to create efficiency by grouping utilities and maintenance.

Optimizing the size of equipment is one of the main reasons a central plant makes sense. With a central plant, we can take advantage of shifting loads throughout building(s), and reduce the overall size of the equipment.

A simple way to think of this is three hungry neighbors ordering pizza for dinner. Each neighbor orders their pie, even though they all only want a few slices. Had they combined their orders, the neighbors could have saved money (and reduce leftovers) by ordering just fewer total pizzas. Hungry for lunch yet?

Other reasons to use a central plant include:

Energy efficiency – Most of the time, one larger piece of equipment consumes less energy to operate than several small pieces of equipment.
Simplified maintenance – Centralized plants are simpler to maintain when there are many buildings. Technicians don’t need to spend time moving from building to building. Plus, operations and controls are centralized.
Save space – Building equipment needs to go somewhere, but it takes up a good amount of space. Trying to find the best location for equipment can be a design challenge on an average building. Centralizing equipment into a separate CUP requires less space in occupied buildings.

Having problems with your CUP system? We can troubleshoot.

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Central Plant Design Challenges

While designing a central plant, engineers have many challenges to consider. These may or may not be top-of-mind concern for building owners, depending on how much familiarity they have with MEP central plants. The three main challenges are:

Challenge 1: Reliability

Central plant reliability is a primary concern. Since a CUP serves multiple buildings, it’s critical to ensure that equipment stays up and running. Our team is well-versed in reliability best practices, going beyond simple redundancy. If your central plant is having problems with reliability, don’t hesitate to contact us for a consultation.

Challenge 2: Capacity

The size of the central plant needs to be carefully calculated by designers. From a physical size standpoint, the structure must be able to contain all the equipment plus room to grow. Additionally, the peak and block load from all the buildings must be considered to determine the CUP capacity.

Challenge 3: Controls and Peak Demand

As part of the design process, we determine not only when the peak demand might occur, but how the equipment will respond. Designers must ensure that building systems can handle heavy usage.

Equipment Design of Central Utility Plants

At RWB, we have completed plan-and-spec, design/build, and retrofit construction of central plants.

Every CUP is different, depending on the needs of the campus it is serving. For example, some CUPs are set up with steam systems, while others will have a robust chilled water system. Equipment may range from variable flow pumping systems to energy recovery systems.

There are many different approaches to central plant design. RWB is familiar with a wide variety of design strategies. The primary-secondary pumping is a more traditional layout. A more modern approach is completely variable pumping. We are also familiar with using water-side economizers and thermal storage systems.

Additionally, a central utility plan has multiple systems that all rely on one another. For example, an emergency generator needs to be sized to accommodate all equipment. Similarly, control panels need to be coordinated with mechanical devices. While collaboration is an essential part of being an MEP engineer, it is critical when designing a central plant.

Master Planning of Central Utility Plants

Master planning includes complete campus evaluation to determine needs. In many cases, a master plan or feasibility study is completed to determine the future design work required.

RWB has extensive experience in master planning central utility plants. We work with owners and facility managers to identify future growth needs, plan the building and system design for those needs and provide budget estimates.

Nathan Hart from RWB Consulting Engineers Discussing Solutions in a Meeting

Retrofit, Renovation, and Replacement Work with CUPs

Because many CUPs have a large amount of floor space, there is flexibility in retrofitting central plants.

There are several reasons that a CUP might require updating, such as the ones listed to the right.

RWB has several clients that we have worked with on CUP retrofits. We are extremely familiar with the design challenges in renovating central plants. We also have experience in evaluating central plants that aren’t working properly, and helping owners troubleshoot these issues. No matter the project, our commitment is the same: 100% customer satisfaction.

Possible Reasons for CUP Retrofit

Equipment replacement
Equipment has reached the end of its useful life needing replacement
Changes to the campus
Such as a new building being constructed and added to the central plant
System changes
Like changing a steam plant to a heating water only plant
Energy efficiency upgrades
Such as water side economizers or thermal storage

Clients

MEP Central Plants

American Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Irving ISD
Keller ISD
Collin College
- Plano Campus
- Frisco Campus
- McKinney Campus
- Wylie Campus
- Public Safety Training Campus

Tyler Junior College
Highland Oaks Church of Christ
Dallas County Community College
- Northlake College
- Mountainview College
- El Centro College
- Cedar Valley College Campus
- Eastfield College
- Richland College
- Brookhaven College