U.S. Department of the Interior — Renovation and Modernization
washington, dc
Renovated sports court/gymnasium
By: Sean Murphy, Asst. Project Manager
Current Status
Grunley Construction reached substantial completion on Wing 4 of the U.S. Department of the Interior Headquarters Building Modernization on April 30, 2008 completing the third of six phases. Finished areas this phase include:
- Over 200,000 square feet of office space (Floors 2 through 7) - to include carpeting & finishes
- Complete HVAC system renovation
- Complete electrical system replacement (power & lights)
- New telecom/CATV system
- New fire alarm & sprinkler system
- Two new egress stairways (Floors 7 to 1) with first floor building exits
- Seven (7) new skylights
- New sports court and gym floor
- Snack bar
- Four (4) passenger and one (1) freight elevator refurbishments
Within Wing 4, Grunley created negative air buffer zones on all floors to mitigate dust and odor migration into the occupied spaces. The negative air buffer zones ensured that air was flowing from the occupied spaces to the construction zone and not the other way around. The negative air buffer zones were created by erecting a second barrier wall between the original barrier walls separating the construction zone from the occupied spaces of the building. Negative air machines installed between the two barrier walls continuously exhausted air from the buffer zone to the outdoors. Magnehelic gauges were checked daily to ensure that negative air was achieved at all times. This was just one of several successful components of Grunley's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Plan. The use of negative air buffer zones will be utilized in future phases of work.
What's Next?
Ongoing activities include completion of the first floor and historic penthouse areas by early Summer 2008 and the central plant and garage spaces by later in the Summer 2008.
Grunley plans to begin construction of Wing 3 (phase 4 of 6) on August 1, 2008. Wing 3 includes the renovation of the cafeteria which is currently undergoing a complete redesign with demolition and abatement tentatively scheduled to start in June 2008.
Date Posted: May 23, 2008