William P. Clements Building Central Plant Improvements

MEP Engineering, Inc. served as the prime consultant on this complete redesign of the existing 1,400-ton WPC central plant.  Located in the Texas Capital Complex, the William P. Clements State Office Building is home to several high-profile state agencies including the Office of the Attorney General.  This challenging project included removal of three existing chillers, and replacement with two new 750-ton high-efficiency centrifugal chillers.  The existing primary/secondary system consisted of five CHW pumps and three CW pumps with no redundancy.  MEP’s new design features a variable primary flow system requiring only three CHW pumps and three CW pumps, each with N+1 redundancy.   HVAC controls were completely upgraded to DDC, including chiller plant optimization controls for greatly improved plant efficiencies and variable flow condenser water pumping.  MEP provided detailed mechanical and electrical engineering guidance to facilitate temporary cooling equipment installation with minimal building downtime. Due to severe access constraints at the existing basement machine room, MEP’s innovative design approach called for disassembly and reassembly of both new chillers, after being carefully transported in pieces through a new floor penetration conveniently located above the existing chiller room.

Project Title:  William P. Clements Building (WBC) Tower Central Plant Improvements

Project Location:  Austin, Texas

Owner:  The State of Texas

Project Size:  473,338 SF

Total Project Cost:  $3,688,000

MEP Role:  Prime Consultant

Services Provided:  Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing