A simple infrared scan prompted a complete upgrade of the high voltage system at UPMC Jameson Hospital in New Castle, PA. Bruce & Merrilees completed the $2.9 million project in 12 months.

The process began when Bruce & Merrilees’ Engineering & Testing team performed an IR scan of the hospital’s high voltage equipment. The scan revealed serious problems, including 60-year-old switchgear and an equipment room temperature of 100°F. Between the age of the gear and the long lead time for new equipment, the team concluded that a major failure could cause the hospital a very long outage. It only took the hospital a few weeks to approve the installation of an all-new 5kV system.

B&M performed high quality, safe work on the project. During its 12-month duration, not a single safety incident was reported.

One of the biggest challenges was caused by supply chain issues, which caused long equipment lead times. This caused the team to rearrange the schedule several times.

“Coordination was the biggest hurdle,” said Project Manager Jon L. “We had scheduled 30-plus outages and we knocked it down to about eight.”

Jon says it helped that Bruce & Merrilees had many years of experience at Jameson, having completed several major building and renovation projects. Our team knew the building—and its limited conduit paths—well.

“The hardest thing about the project was the logistics of everything,” said Jon. "You’re taking high voltage cabling in rigid conduit throughout the hospital. With our foreman's knowledge of the hospital, we found routes that helped us save time and money.”

The project wrapped up in May 2022 with a high level of customer satisfaction.