LAX’S NEW CENTRAL UTILITY PLANT PROJECT MARKS CONSTRUCTION MILESTONE “Topping Out” Ceremony Celebrates Last Structural Steel Beam Placement Atop Structure
(Los Angeles, California – January 24, 2012) The $438-million replacement Central Utility Plant (CUP) project at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) marked a major construction milestone today with a “Topping Out” ceremony that celebrated the placement of the last piece of structural steel. Following a 1,000 year old construction tradition, a small tree and an American flag crowned the steel beam, a tradition signifying the building team’s and owner’s hopes for good luck and success with the building. The beam is then lifted 75 feet high and attached to the top of the structure.
Over the last four weeks, construction workers from Schuff Steel used acrawler crane with a reach of 140 feet to erect approximately 1,400 tons of structural steel, creating the frame for the new CUP.
“The new Central Utility Plant will increase LAX’s customer service and the comfort of travelers, visitors and airport workers by providing additional capacity for air conditioning, heating and lighting in our airline passenger terminals, iconic Theme Building, administrative offices and other airport buildings,” said Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey.
“This new modern, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, computer-managed utility plant is a great improvement over the old facility and will provide the heating and energy needs of the new, modernized LAX,” said LAWA Deputy Executive Director for Airports Development Roger Johnson.
“An interesting aspect pertaining to the CUP structure is that it was designed as an essential facility with stringent seismic drift criteria to protect the facility during a major earthquake,” said Kevin Carpenter, design manager for project contractor Clark/McCarthy, A Joint Venture.
The four-story, 64,000-square-foot facility will replace the existing 50-year-old utility plant and complies with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. The new CUP’s innovative co-generation turbine will produce electricity and steam that, in turn, will help power a second set of generators to meet cooling and heating requirements in the buildings. This equipment reduces fuel consumption by up to 30 percent when compared to power generation done separately. The new CUP also will be 60 percent more efficient in producing chilled water, using a thermal-energy storage tank with capacity for 1.6 million gallons of water and 15,500 ton-hours of cooling.
Water will be cooled late at night when electricity rates are lowest. The chilled water can then be used to cool the terminals during the day when passenger traffic is at its peak. This design eliminates the need to use a 3,260-ton chiller during the day. When completed, the new CUP will have the capacity to:
· Pump 97.1 million gallons of water daily, enough to fill 5,000 average-size swimming pools
· Provide enough chilled water to cool 373,500 homes
· Provide enough hot water for use in and to heat 16,200 homes
· Generate enough electricity to power 9,100 homes
After the new CUP goes into service, the current facility will be demolished. Construction will continue through August 2014.
About Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the sixth busiest airport in the world and third in the United States, offering more than 600 daily flights to 91 domestic cities and over 1,000 weekly nonstop flights to 56 cities in 32 countries on nearly 75 air carriers. In 2010 (the latest full-year statistics available), LAX served over 59 million passengers, processed over 1.9 million tons of air cargo valued at nearly $80 billion, and handled 575,835 aircraft operations (landings and takeoffs). LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a proprietary department of the City of Los Angeles that receives no funding from the City’s general fund.
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