Temporary Chiller Hire for a Major South East NHS Hospital

Challenges

• Height restrictions for the crane – The rooftop location required careful planning around overhead height limitations at the site, restricting crane reach and positioning options. 
• Tight footprint for four large units – Fitting four 360 kW packaged chillers onto the roof whilst maintaining the manufacturer’s required ventilation clearances between each unit was a significant spatial challenge. 
• Maintaining ambulance access throughout – The hospital’s emergency vehicle routes could not be obstructed at any point. All crane positioning, delivery vehicle movements, and equipment staging had to work entirely around live ambulance access.
• Complete delivery and unloading in a single day – To minimise disruption to the hospital, all four chillers had to be craned into position and the site cleared within one working day. 

Our Solution

• Rapid Energy carried out a detailed site survey and worked with a specialist lifting contractor to plan a safe and efficient rooftop installation.
• All four 360kW chillers were lifted and positioned within a compact 8m x 8m footprint, while maintaining required ventilation gaps between each unit.
• Railway sleepers were installed to evenly distribute the load across the rooftop and raise the equipment approximately 200mm above drainage covers.
• Each chiller was carefully positioned to ensure safe access to control panels and key components for future maintenance.
• The system was fully integrated with pumps and a flow and return header arrangement to support efficient operation.
• A run and standby configuration was implemented, providing 100% redundancy and ensuring reliability in the event of unit failure.
• All equipment was delivered, installed, and commissioned within a single day, meeting the project’s tight timeframe.