NYC Health + Hospitals Kings County Hospital Steam System Rehabilitation

The GPI Buildings Group assessed the steam delivery system, including tunnels, pipes, conduits, electrical equipment, data communications, structural integrity, means of egress, venting, hydrostatic loads, and code compliance. GPI designed upgrades to the entire system with replacement of all piping and steam pressure-reducing valve station controls and monitors, as well as repairs and enhancements to lighting and electrical distribution systems.

Decades of leaks from the high-pressure steam pipes had severely weakened the concrete walls, ceilings, and floors of the tunnels. GPI determined that three of four deteriorated tunnel sections could be repaired from within by replacing damaged concrete and supplementing steel reinforcements. The fourth and longest tunnel segment, which was also the most deteriorated, lies below the heavily traveled Winthrop Street. Repairing the tunnel was not feasible, so GPI designed a new direct-buried piping system. A series of new vaults provide access for service of new expansion compensators and condensate return pumps and traps.

GPI’s highly phrased design maintains continuity of hospital operations throughout construction. The first phase reroutes the supply steam feeding the hospital’s main building with a new permanent interior connection. The second phase reroutes fiber optic data cabling into a new underground channel. The third phase replaces the piping below Winthrop. Because steam service would be halted during tunnel repair, GPI devised a plan to install temporary boilers to supply steam to the hospital’s west campus across the street from the main building. Since this work would necessitate excavation, a detailed Work Zone Traffic Control plan was submitted and approved by the New York City Department of Transportation to minimize disruption along Winthrop, a thoroughfare for emergency vehicles, staff, patients, delivery trucks, and neighborhood residents.