U.S. Department Of Housing And Urban DevelopmenT - Robert C. Weaver Federal Building — Fire & Life Safety Upgrades

Project Details

Owner: General Services Administration, Washington, DC Contract Amount: $8,853,947
Date of Award: August 1990
Date of Completion: December 1992
Architect: Kemnitzer Reid & Haffler, Washington, DC

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters building located in Washington, DC was originally constructed in the early seventies and lacked current safety devices and systems. The General Services Administration designed the improvements so the building would be a safer place to work and compliant with current safety codes.

The Fire and Life Safety Improvements included the installation of new wet-pipe sprinkler and addressable fire alarm systems throughout the entire building. The installation of these systems impacted numerous building elements. The existing concealed spline ceiling had to be completely removed to install the new sprinklers. In addition to the ceilings, the light fixtures and air diffusers also had to be removed as the new acoustical tile ceilings required different fixtures and diffusers. To further complicate matters the project remained fully occupied and in use on a daily basis.

Grunley Construction accepted the challenge and planned the job accordingly. All work was performed at night utilizing an efficient 4-day week working ten hours per day. The areas were protected and cleaned up on a daily basis. Building sections were split into 6,000 SF areas and work was ongoing in four areas at a time. The demolition was performed in the first area, followed by the sprinkler contractor, the electrician, HVAC and ceiling contractors. As each trade completed work in an area, it moved along sequencially to the next area until the project was completed.

This phasing and sequencing accommodated a successful trade flow and our forces only worked in four areas at any one time. The project also had selective asbestos abatement and new drywall ceilings in the lobbies that was also phased and performed at night.