Boston, MA – Skanska USA Building Inc. has been selected to serve as the construction manager for the co-generation facility upgrade at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester and for the construction of a second data center for the Commonwealth of Mass. Information Technology Division (ITD) in Springfield.
As the construction manager for the UMASS Medical Center co-generation facility upgrade, Skanska will implement additional steam capacity of the existing power plant as required to meet future demands for both the medical school and the hospital.
A new control room will be constructed and both the power plant and administration buildings will be expanded, each by approximately 15,000sf. A minimum of five megawatts of additional electrical generation and 5,000 tons of chiller capacity will be implemented, along with the integration of new and existing plant controls.
The power plant expansion building, which will be constructed utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM) software, which enables the team to flag any potential technical and design issues, thereby saving time and money on the project. As a result of the upgrade, the facility will be energy efficient and environmentally sustainable.
The $66 million construction project for the Commonwealth’s second ITD data center is located on a site of more than two acres and contains 80,000sf of the remaining portion of the 100-year-old former Springfield Technical High School.
The construction of the two-story data center facility will include nearly 70,000sf of computer room and supporting spaces. Energy conservation and “green data center” practices are a key part of the project, which is also expected to be designed and constructed using BIM software. The building is designed to achieve USGBC LEED certification.
