NRGH Thermal Energy Centre

Vancouver Island Health Authority

Architect:	Stantec
Role:	Mechanical Consultant
Duration:	Jan 2017 - Aug 2021
Budget:	$12,600,000
Area:	638 sqm [6,867 sqft]
Discipline:	Plumbing, HVAC, Fire Suppression
Contractor:	Kinetic Construction
Engineer of Record:	Trace Grunerud, P.Eng, Principal

m3 was retained to provide full mechanical design and construction services for a new Thermal Energy Centre at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The project involved replacement of the 1960s district heating plant with a hybrid biomass/nat gas steam plant. The biomass steam plant was to reduce VIHA’s GHG emissions in response to the Clean BC 2030 mandate and would have been a first in a health care application. Following design development the project went under a budget review and the biomass was replaced for a conventional plant with flue gas economisers and high turn down burners. Plant efficiencies were greatly increased over the existing plant. Rough-in for future plant technologies were incorporated. The facility is designed as a post-disaster thermal energy building with additional infrastructure to support power, water and gas interruption with heat generation disruption. The project also included a cooling tower replacement for the site and provisions for future steam to hot water conversion. The project was fully modelled in Revit. The work was broken into phases to allow for minimal disruption to the existing facility and to provide adequate hoarding for security and infectious control.