Chiller installation in Abu Dhabi City 

Chiller installation in Abu Dhabi City: local context

Abu Dhabi City covers the main island's grid of streets, from the Corniche towers and government buildings to dense mid-rise blocks built from the 1980s onward, along with hotels, hospitals and private palaces. Many buildings are now 20–40 years old, so replacement and upgrade work runs alongside new towers. Manolia's work in the capital includes building works for a G+3P+24 office tower, MEP works for a 28-storey tower and HVAC works for Al Bahar Palace.

• Older towers on the island often need chiller and cooling tower replacements, re-piping of corroded risers and new BMS controls, delivered while tenants stay in place.
• Fire and life safety upgrades are approved and witnessed by ADCDA, and refurbishments commonly bring smoke control, alarm and sprinkler systems into line with the current UAE Fire & Life Safety Code.
• ADDC load approvals and substation arrangements need to be confirmed before final electrical design, especially when existing buildings add significant cooling load.

Building types we serve in Abu Dhabi City

For hotels and serviced apartments, the work concentrates on quiet guestroom fan coils, kitchen and laundry extract, hot-water generation at scale, BMS supervision and phased handover to the operator.

Scope of work

• Review of plant capacity, redundancy and part-load profile so the number and size of chillers matches how the building actually operates through the year.
• Rigging and lifting plans for heavy chillers onto roofs or into basements, coordinated with crane availability and site logistics.
• Header, bypass and expansion arrangements with air separators, chemical dosing pots and make-up water connections.
• Power cabling, starter panels and interlocks from the LV board, coordinated with the electrical contractor and utility load approval.

Systems we install

• Primary-secondary or variable primary pumping arrangements
• Thermal energy storage tanks where tariffs or loads justify

UAE site and climate challenges

• Dust and sand clog condenser coils and reduce heat rejection, so coil cleaning access, coatings for coastal sites and a planned cleaning regime are built into the handover.
• Roof plant on towers is often installed months before handover and left idle in the sun, so chillers are protected, crankcase heaters energised when power arrives, and controls checked for heat damage before manufacturer start-up.
• Own chiller plant versus a district cooling connection, which depends on whether a provider serves the plot and how capacity charges compare with plant ownership.

Relevant Manolia projects

Al Bahar Palace, Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi · HVAC · Completed

HVAC design & installation, fresh/extract air, plus swimming-pool works.

4B+G+M+HC+24

5-star furnished-apartment hotel tower, Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi · MEP · On hold

District cooling via a 1 km underground pipe trench (project on hold).

Frequently asked questions