LAX Central Utility Plant

HMM is providing civil and structural engineering design services to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) for planning and 30% engineering plans for the main distribution utilities from the renovated Central Utility Plant (CUP) to the new Bradley West Terminal at LAX. The constructed value of the facility is estimated to be approximately $272 million, and is being designed by a Design Build Joint Venture for LAWA in 2011 and 2012.

HMM was the prime consultant on the project, and coordinated the architectural concept development and MEP design of the facility. HMM also provided geotechnical investigations through a subconsultant, and performed the required coordination with all utility agencies, also providing QA/QC and civil engineering design.

HMM prepared Conceptual Phasing Plans for the building and utilities, and developed alternative traffic phasing plans to allow construction of the CUP and Utilidor segments with minimal traffic impact. HMM performed utility surveys to establish the locations of utilities surrounding proposed CUP which may impact future construction activities. Once subsurface utilities were located, they were mapped using GPS field mapping methods and the information was updated to the LUSAD database. Survey and utility data was combined onto project background drawings, and these were used to prepare the Preliminary Engineering Plans.

Project Highlights:

The HMM team provided a Design Validation for the new CUP to include:

• Proposed flow diagrams on a system-by-system basis
• CUP low load operation conditions
• Independently confirm Chilled Water,  Condenser Water and HTHW flows, velocities, and temperature differentials
• Review plant area (footprint) and volume requirements for overall CUP and major equipment including Cogeneration, Boilers, Chillers, Cooling Towers, etc.
• Validate building program for the CUP allocating sufficient volume for process equipment and ancillary functions
• Site proposed building in the Central Terminal Area (CTA) with consideration of utility connections, connections to the distribution network, security issues, traffic, LA Department of Building and Safety (LA DBS), LA Department of Community Affairs, and other agencies
• Review the preliminary code analysis including type of construction, use group, and any potential code-related issues that could affect the design