Murphy Company was contracted to design, build, and ship a prefabricated, self-contained Central Utility Plant (CUP) to provide heating, cooling, and domestic water for a new casino addition at Belterra Park Casino (formerly River Downs Casino) in Cincinnati. This was a first, one-of-a-kind project for St. Louis.
The 84 ft x 30 ft CUP was constructed on a level steel frame that was shipped in eight pieces via oversized trucks. The CUP was loaded with equipment, including two boilers, five primary heating hot water pumps, three chilled water pumps, a cooling tower water filter skid, three condenser water pumps, two cooling towers, two 500-ton water chillers, a chilled water expansion tank, a chilled water spirotherm AS, a free cooling heat exchanger, two fan coil units, a ventilation fan, and exterior louver. Total weight was 230,000 lbs., with the largest section weighing 40,000 lbs.
All the equipment, pipe, pumps, and boilers were installed in Murphy’s shop in sections. The chillers were installed on sections in the yard. All sections were set on a level platform in the yard to insure fit. Sections were then disassembled and shipped to the site for reassembly/tie-in. The cooling tower steel was sent to the site along with the cooling towers and assembled over mechanical room sections.
Because of its uniqueness and success, this project was awarded the 2014 Design/Build Award by Contracting Business Magazine.
