MacDonald-Miller continues to set unprecedented benchmarks. After 2 years of planning, designing, detailing, fabricating and assembling, MacMiller took on the challenge of setting 5 of our largest prefabricated racks on record at 8th & Howell. This was in addition to setting 3 York chillers, 1 multi-stack chiller, 3 prefabricated skids carrying 3 fully assembled pumps each and their associated piping, 2 steam boilers, 3 heating hot water boilers, and 1 deaerator skid. The largest of the prefabricated racks measured just over 40’ in length, 7’-6” in width, and an assembled height of just under 20’. The dry weight for this system was just under 28,000 lbs.

So, why was this so much different than other remarkable installations MacMiller does everyday? One reason is that 85% of the chiller plant piping is supported from these racks. As in most mechanical rooms, the piping within the room typically needs to be supported with a spring isolation hanger, but in this case our fitting team helped design a frame system that basically acts as a cooling tower base frame with spring isolators located below “rack framing”, versus from above on the individual hangers. Because we posted down to the structure below, and spring isolated the frame supporting the piping, our main rough-in for the mechanical room is nearly complete. Therefore, we are not waiting for the deck above to be installed before placing any of our equipment or piping.


The bottom line – MacMiller has one heckuva start on our $62 million-dollar project at 8th & Howell. We took advantage of our ability to prefabricate our systems offsite, reducing our dependence on the overall project schedule to plan and execute this massive chunk of work in the mechanical room. Our detailers took on the challenge of designing the supports for the piping to post down to the concrete structure below so we did not have to rely on the steel being installed setting our systems in place in the chiller room. Our amazing trades in the shop have been able to execute a substantial amount of work in the controlled environment of our shop rather than typical approach to executing this work in the field.


While all of our tradesmen deserve a big pat on the back, a HUGE shout-out goes to our fitting detailers led by Chris Schooling, our Fitting Shop led by Bill Dixon, and our Fitting Field led by Josh Russel in executing this work associated with the boiler and mechanical rooms at 8th and Howell.

But that’s just part of the equation. We flew the remainder of our 17 mega MTRs (Multi-Trade Racks) late this December into the hole before the steel erection cycle picks back up. The offsite MTR assembly team has allowed us to preassemble at least 40% of the major infrastructure distribution occurring outside of the mechanical rooms on the P2 floor. Again, the hard work in preplanning and execution by all of our trades from detailing to the shop to our closers in the field, truly make our company stand out as best-in-class!

Categories: General

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