Project of the Year Feature: New Construction – Suburbs (Above $20M)
January 5, 2026
BURR RIDGE – CISCO’s 2nd 2025 Project of the Year Feature is the top choice of New Construction – Suburbs (Above $20M), which is the Replacement Power Plant at Elgin Mental Health Center. General contractor was Clark Construction; client was Capital Development Board.
When considering submissions, judging criteria is based on: quality of construction, design, impact on the community and safety record.
The Replacement Power Plant at Elgin Mental Health Center is a new central utility power plant, including maintenance workspace and vehicle storage on the 53-building Elgin Mental Health Center Campus. The new plant is designed to provide a reliable and cost-effective central heating and power facility to serve demand on the 53-building campus.
The scope of work included the installation of three 500-horsepower medium-pressure, dual-fuel steam boilers and the relocation of a 1,200-horsepower steam boiler, along with the installation of the three 1,500-watt, 2.4-kilovolt diesel generators to supply parallel power to the campus when utility power is unavailable. Maintenance workspace, vehicle storage, and decommissioning of the existing power plant were also included in the project.
The Elgin Mental Health Center was originally established in 1872, and the site of the new power plant included a hospital building that was demolished in 1997. As a result, the project team encountered significant active and abandoned undocumented underground utilities throughout the site.
To mitigate this challenge, crews employed the use of spotters and hand-digging during excavation to carefully locate existing utilities, which were then tested to determine if they were still active. In one case, an active utility line was found to be in the direct path of the new underground steam and condensate run. The team developed a solution that enabled the new steam and condensate lines to be properly installed, while keeping the existing utility line active, and without delay. A new manhole was added that allowed the piping to change elevation and slightly alter its path, facilitating the continued installation of the new steam and condensate lines without disruption to the existing utility lines.
Another challenge was receiving permanent power. During the first month of construction, ComEd notified the team that the new transformer could not be delivered until well after the project was substantially completed. This meant that the new permanent power feed could not be installed, which had the potential to impact testing and commissioning of the new boilers and generators. The team developed a solution, which involved installing a new underground electrical feed that tied into the existing electrical loop via the existing transformer. The temporary power feed was sufficient to properly bring power to the new building to allow for testing and commissioning of the new MEP systems, without disrupting power to the rest of the campus. As a result, the new building was successfully turned over prior to the installation of the new transformer.
The project was safely completed by local Union trade contractors with no lost time or recordable incidents. All trade contractors were required to attend Safe Start Meetings, where safe plans of action were developed for each scope. Furthermore, every craft worker on site received project-specific safety training during orientation meetings before they started work on site. Lastly, the Clark team conducted continuous, active site inspections to promptly identify and mitigate potential hazards.
The completion of this project facilitates demolition of the existing power plant, which is located on a portion of the land that is being sold to the City of Elgin to allow for an expansion of the City’s sports complex. Ultimately, the site of the former plant will be developed to include additional athletic fields, playgrounds, walking trails, bike paths, and vehicular accessibility for the Elgin residents.
