Technical Galleries Consolidation

12 DECEMBER, 2022 | By Sebastien Evrard

The Technical Galleries Consolidation Program focuses on the remedy of existing issues and on the refurbishment of the galleries’ conditions and their related infrastructure as reasonable as possible.

Drinking and firefighting water, as well as com-pressed air lines, are among the main priorities due to the bad conditions of the piping and the need to improve water quality. These networks have been enlarged gradually or partially discontinued depending on the needs. It is therefore necessary to have a complete review of all the usage and consumptions to define the new configuration and their appropriate dimensions.

Dismantling and installation activities will be done by geographical areas and will follow a sequence to minimize disruption of services in the CERN complex. In addition, the Project will also aim at adapting the services to the present needs of the sites and at improving safety related aspects.

Approximately 80 technical galleries, essential for the operation of CERN, will be consolidated over the next ten years.

The oldest installations and equipment located in the galleries date back to the mid-50s. No systematic maintenance took place in the past years. This led to a severely degraded situation in terms of operability and reliability, ranging from the bad conditions of the equipment to safety aspects.

At present, there are 2 pilot galleries: 835 & 81.