Four-Year Campus Mechanical Renovation

The challenge

Four years of mechanical renovation across an operating manufacturing campus, under two different contracting structures, without ever stopping production.

The approach

The work was phased so each package could be executed inside the schedule the plant could actually give up. ASE ran the first phase as prime to the owner and the later phases as design-build mechanical subcontractor to Mortenson, coordinating with DRA Associates on controls. Weekend changeouts on this scale only work when the field crew can make the call in real time, without waiting on a chain of approvals.

Phases

• 2020 — 16 rooftop units, two weekends. As prime with the owner, ASE replaced 16 RTUs over two consecutive weekends so manufacturing was never interrupted. Every unit was running by start of business Monday.
• 2021–2023 — Phase A with Mortenson. A 30,000 SF office renovation including a new boiler room, 26 VAV boxes, and replacement of 14 rooftop units (4 variable air volume). Construction drawings were completed in 4 weeks to hold an aggressive schedule.
• 2023–2024 — Lobby addition and 20,000 SF open office completing the campus renovation.

Operational constraint

A running manufacturing campus. Production could not be interrupted at any point across four years, which put most of the heavy work into weekends and planned outages.

Result

The renovation finished in 2024 with production uninterrupted throughout. ASE remains Advanced Energy's mechanical service provider today — maintaining the campus's rooftop units, chillers, process cooling, and two cleanrooms.