Westwood Plaza runs into pipe installation delays, mishaps

Monday, 8/25/97 Westwood Plaza runs into pipe installation
delays, mishaps CONSTRUCTION Leak, site difficulties, material
choice make for late completion

By Patrick Kerkstra Daily Bruin Senior Staff The construction
pit running the length of Westwood Plaza isn’t expected to close
until Sept. 17 – 3 1/2 months after the beleaguered project was
initially scheduled to end. A tricky site, an unfortunate choice of
materials and an elusive leak are the primary reasons behind the
delay, which officials now say could have been avoided if they’d
approached the project differently. The project began as a routine
one – installation of a new section of UCLA’s massive chilled-water
line. The chilled water, which is used for air conditioning, runs
through two 24-inch pipes that worm their way across campus. The
mistake in the latest line extension was choosing plastic piping
over steel. Steel, which is expensive and difficult to install,
usually lasts longer and most importantly, does not leak. Plastic
sometimes does. This time, it did, and what began as an attempt to
save money may end up costing the university far more in the long
run. Construction workers have searched for the evasive leak for
six weeks, tearing up a good chunk of the work they spent months
putting together. "The system in place on most of the campus is
welded steel," said David Johnson, director of Energy Services. "In
hindsight, this would have been a great time to use welded steel."
Plastic is not only susceptible to leaks, but because it is far
lighter than steel piping, many of the pipe joints must be buried
in concrete for the test. The test found a small leak in one of the
pipes, but because the pipes were already half-covered with
concrete, the leak was incredibly difficult to locate – hence the
long delay and extra expense. "Normally when we use this kind of
pipe we require that all of the joints are exposed until the test
is made," Johnson said. "All of the pipe joints weren’t exposed
this time because of the difficulty of the area." Like any
excavation, the chilled-water line installation has had to contend
with buried pipes, telecommunications lines and other underground
obstacles. But officials say Westwood Plaza was particularly
difficult to navigate. "The path we’ve taken in front of Ackerman
is one of the most congested underground paths in the university,"
Johnson said. This has led to more twists and turns than are usual
for the chilled-water line, which forced workers to bury far more
of the pipe with concrete before testing than is normally
acceptable. Although plastic clearly was the wrong material in this
case, Johnson defended the use of the less expensive material in
most other cases. "PVC pipe has a good service record. Its material
cost is less and it’s been used successfully elsewhere on campus,"
he said. "We would not have used PVC had we not been convinced it
was perfectly serviceable." Although Johnson’s department, Energy
Services, provides the water for the chilled water system, Capital
Programs is responsible for the physical construction of the piping
system. Johnson deferred all questions about the financial
consequences of the leak to Capital Programs, but The Bruin was
unable to speak about the project to anyone within Capital
Programs. Design manager Pam Wilson is heading the project for
Capital Programs, but she did not return multiple requests made
over a week for comment on this story. Ron Lindsey, a consultant
working with Wilson, would only say the project is scheduled to end
by Sept. 17. Several other Capital Programs officials did not
return calls or e-mail queries placed Friday. Meanwhile,
construction workers continue retracing their steps and repeating
work once thought done in Westwood Plaza. AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin
Construction workers remove concrete supports from the pipes to
find a leak in the chilled-water system. Previous Daily Bruin Story
Expansion project to add new parking under field