Client: Institute of Mental Health (IMH)
Scope: Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning — Centralised Chiller Plant with BAS Integration
Location: Blocks 1, 2, 8 and Annex, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore
Category: Smart Building Solutions | Government & Institutional
Project Overview
The Institute of Mental Health is one of Singapore's most operationally sensitive healthcare environments. Patient wards, emergency facilities and clinical operations run around the clock without pause. When IMH set out to upgrade its building systems across Blocks 1, 2, 8 and the Annex, the project required more than an M&E contractor. It required a smart building partner capable of engineering a high-performance, BAS-integrated centralised chiller plant inside a live critical-care facility, without disrupting a single day of hospital operations.
E-Tech delivered the complete scope: consolidating multiple legacy air-cooled chiller systems into a single centralised water-cooled plant integrated with a Building Automation System, variable speed pumping, real-time energy monitoring and advanced controls. The plant targets a system efficiency of 0.60 kW/RT or better, directly reducing energy costs across four hospital blocks and supporting IMH's BCA Green Mark Platinum objectives.
Scope of Works
Centralised Water-Cooled Chiller Plant
Multiple legacy air-cooled chiller systems across the four blocks were consolidated into a single centralised water-cooled chiller plant. Centralisation delivers superior system efficiency, simplified maintenance and full integration with the Building Automation System, enabling the facility to manage cooling across all four blocks from a single intelligent platform.
Building Automation System (BAS) Integration
The new chiller plant was fully integrated with a Building Automation System, bringing ACMV, energy monitoring and advanced controls under one intelligent platform. BAS integration gives IMH's facilities team real-time visibility into system performance, automated fault detection and the control precision that a 24-hour clinical environment demands.
Variable Speed Pumping and Advanced Controls
Variable speed drives were installed across the pumping system, allowing flow rates to respond dynamically to actual cooling demand across the facility. Combined with advanced controls and real-time energy monitoring, the system continuously optimises performance to maintain the target efficiency of 0.60 kW/RT or better.
Cooling Towers and Water Treatment
Cooling towers and a full water treatment programme were installed as part of the centralised plant infrastructure. Proper water treatment is critical to protecting equipment longevity and maintaining the system efficiency targets the plant is designed to achieve. All systems were designed to meet Green Mark maintenance accessibility, safety and statutory compliance requirements.
Electrical Works, Testing and Commissioning
Comprehensive electrical works supported the full plant installation, covering power supply, distribution and controls integration across Blocks 1, 2, 8 and the Annex. Every system was tested and commissioned to specification before handover, with all chilled water and condenser water systems verified and fully integrated with the central BAS platform. The plant was handed over complete, performing to target and ready for long-term operation under a full maintenance programme.
Key Challenge: Live Delivery in an Active Critical-Care Environment
The central challenge of this project was engineering and installing a full chiller plant replacement and BAS integration across four hospital blocks while patient wards, emergency services and clinical operations remained fully active throughout every phase of works.
Every stage of the project was planned and sequenced around active clinical schedules. Shutdown windows were coordinated across hospital management, consultants, specialist contractors and facility operators to minimise disruption and ensure continuous operation throughout. The level of multi-stakeholder coordination required goes well beyond a standard M&E installation. New equipment also had to be integrated within an operational facility while meeting Green Mark maintenance accessibility, safety and statutory compliance requirements — meaning the engineering solution had to satisfy operational, regulatory and clinical demands simultaneously.
E-Tech managed the full scope under one accountable team, from first brief to final handover, ensuring that the hospital never had to coordinate between multiple contractors or manage competing site programmes during a live clinical delivery.
What This Project Demonstrates
The IMH project reflects E-Tech's capability at the intersection of smart building technology and live critical-infrastructure delivery. Installing a centralised chiller plant with full BAS integration is technically demanding in any environment. Delivering it inside an active psychiatric hospital, across four blocks, without a single operational disruption, is a demonstration of a different level of planning, execution and accountability.
The project also advances IMH's BCA Green Mark Platinum objectives. A system efficiency target of 0.60 kW/RT or better represents a significant improvement over the legacy air-cooled systems it replaced, delivering measurable, ongoing reductions in energy consumption and operating cost across the facility.
Project Highlights
- Centralised water-cooled chiller plant replacing multiple legacy air-cooled systems across Blocks 1, 2, 8 and the Annex
- Full BAS integration with real-time energy monitoring and advanced controls
- Variable speed pumping for dynamic demand response across all four blocks
- System efficiency target: 0.60 kW/RT or better
- Supports IMH's BCA Green Mark Platinum certification objectives
- Zero disruption to patient wards, emergency services or clinical operations across all phases of works
- Cooling towers, water treatment and full chilled water and condenser water systems installed
- Full M&E scope delivered under one accountable team, from brief to handover
- Equipment supplied includes Panasonic-specified systems, meeting Green Mark maintenance accessibility and statutory compliance requirements