C.T.O. ANDREA ALESINI HOSPITAL
REFURBISHMENT AND UPGRADING OF BUILDING SERVICES
The project
The refurbishment project concerns the chilled-water plant at C.T.O. Andrea Alesini Hospital on Via San Nemesio in Rome. It forms part of a functional upgrading programme to optimise the generation, distribution and control of on-site electricity and building cooling. The primary objective was to respect the original architecture while improving system reliability and safety and reducing environmental impact and energy consumption. Works cover the chilled-water plant room and the roof, with particular attention to the installations serving the hospital.
Building services design – Chillers
The project replaced two existing chillers with two new units of greater capacity to support the system’s current and future cooling requirements. The new units are packaged air-cooled water chillers, each with two semi-hermetic screw compressors using R134a refrigerant. The installation was configured to fit the existing spaces, with particular attention to dimensional compatibility and energy efficiency. Each unit has two electric pumps, one on standby, to circulate chilled water to the hydronic headers, which were modified to accommodate the increased flow. Noise attenuation systems were also reinstalled and partially modified to reduce the installation’s acoustic impact.
Building services design – Air handling units (AHUs)
The project also provided five new air handling units (AHUs) on the roof to improve the fourth-floor ventilation system, which did not meet the requirements of the spaces served, including the operating theatres. Fresh-air intakes and exhaust outlets are positioned to prevent recirculation of extracted air. Distribution ducts connect to the plant through new shafts designed to pass through the building’s fifth floor. This arrangement was essential to avoid disruption during construction, particularly to the third-floor operating suite. The new AHUs sit on a raised structure, allowing maintenance and inspection of coils without affecting the existing system. Variable-speed drives on the fans enable precise airflow control, and pipework is sized to allow future system expansion.
The project, up close.
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