Fuss & O’Neill was contracted to perform a state building energy study at 61 Woodland Street. This site, a former Phoenix Mutual building, is now used as the administrative headquarters of the state college and university system.

The study identified a number of energy conservation measures involving emphasizing HVAC improvements and DDC controls. We designed a replacement of their boiler plant, which consisted of three very old, very large, build-up firetube boilers. Not long into the design process, the existing boilers were condemned by the state boiler inspector, turning the project into an emergency boiler replacement.

Operating under an extension allowing one of the existing boilers to stay in service, the new boilers were on line before the extension expired. The project grew in scope to include a standby generator, DDC controls for the heating plant, and a custom VFD-based soft start to prevent a large fan motor from overloading the generator on startup.