Haven Plaza Utility Services Building

The new Haven Plaza Utility Services Building is one of the largest post-Superstorm Sandy disaster resiliency projects focused on protecting affordable multi-family housing from storm-related power and heat disruption.

The resiliency building services the four-building, 371-apartment Haven Plaza complex located in the East Village. It consists of three levels and houses much of the complex’s utility infrastructure. The first and second floors are constructed above the 100-year flood elevation and the cellar is flood-proofed. Utility services relocated to the new building include natural gas, city water, electric power, and Haven Plaza’s new steam generation plant. The utility building features three new dual-fueled steam boilers on the second floor, which will result in significant operating cost reductions. Power distribution for both the new building and an existing building was installed on the first floor, as were domestic water heaters. Steam and domestic water are delivered to each building through underground distribution piping.

In the four apartment buildings, all essential equipment was raised to above the 100-year flood level to maintain key operation in the event of future floods. Each building is equipped with manual transfer switches, allowing portable generators to provide emergency power to the base building common services.