Packaged plant
Packaged plant is: ‘A generic term describing one or more items of mechanical and/or electrical plant that are combined (packaged) in the factory to form a transportable unit, such as an electrical substation complete with cladding or an air-handling unit.’ Ref BIM Overlay to the RIBA Outline Plan of Work, published by the RIBA in 2012.
Offsite residential construction, Glossary of terms, published by Buildoffsite in 2018, defines packaged plant as: ‘…one or more items of mechanical and/or electrical plant that are combined (packaged) in the factory to form a transportable unit.’
It defines plant room modules (pre-assembled) as: ‘Packaged or skid-mounted pre-assembled plant rooms prefinished in the factory, ready for direct connection to mains services onsite. Can include complete plant room areas including air handling units (AHUs), fans, chillers, boilers, pumps and pressurisation units, together with elements of the building envelope.’
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