HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball, Cooling Tower Replacement

Burns replaced the hospital’s cooling tower, serving as the design/build project’s engineer of record.

HCA Houston Healthcare Tomball is a 350-bed hospital and Level III trauma center located in northwest Harris County.

The hospital’s cooling tower was providing insufficient capacity and operating beyond its useful life. In response, HCA retained Burns to design a system replacement and to oversee the infrastructure’s modernization.

Burns delivered mechanical and electrical designs as well as construction management services. The design/build project involved:

Replacing the two-cell cooling tower with a three-cell tower
Replacing condenser water pumps and associated variable speed drives with larger pumps and high-efficiency drives
Upgrading building automation system (BAS) controls
Providing temporary cooling towers to ensure the transition would have no impact on hospital operations

Throughout the project, Burns maintained continuity of the hospital’s cooling system and minimized disruption to hospital operations. Construction is scheduled to complete in 2024.

Location

Houston, TX

Client

HCA Houston Healthcare

Industry

Healthcare

Expertise

District Energy Systems

Hospital Building Systems

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing

Key Team Member