From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #18
Posted: June 9, 2006

The Resource Center re-opened as originally planned on Thursday, June 1^st!     The Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, Computer Services, Accounting, Purchasing, Travel & Direct Pay, Human Resources, Payroll and Benefits and the Office of Research have all moved back to New Orleans and begun to operate from their original offices.  The Registrar has relocated from temporary facilities in Baton Rouge to space within the Library on the 4^th floor.  The Campus Federal Credit Union will reopen their 2^nd floor offices on June 12^th, as will the LSUHSC Library.  With this latest building opening, the majority of the teaching, research and administrative functions that were based on the downtown campus have now returned.  1542 Tulane Ave. is the last of the major buildings on the downtown campus where the temporary repairs needed to reoccupy it have not been completed, but they are underway.  

The temporary repairs to the Clinic and Administration Buildings at the Dental School continue to progress.  Both contractors are working rapidly to complete the critical repairs as replacement equipment and parts arrive.  The schedules for completion remain very aggressive and the limited availability of some critical components may still cause some delays, but these are being managed as closely as possible.  Details on specific accomplishments and progress are provided below.

The environmental remediation work at 1542 Tulane and other locations on the downtown campus continues and the work remains on schedule.   The required cleaning has been finished on the 8^th and 7^th floors, and crews are busy on the 1^st, 5^th, and 6^th floors.  Cleaning of the various mechanical rooms on the individual floors is well underway and work in the basement has been continuing, although a recent power problem has temporarily interrupted progress.  The contract for temporary repairs to the building electrical and key mechanical systems at 1542 Tulane which will provide electrical power to upper floors was awarded and work is just starting. 

Here are highlights of work that has been accomplished since our last update was posted two weeks ago.  

• Work on the 3^rd environmental remediation contract addressing the balance of the buildings and facilities on the downtown campus is underway.  The contractor has started the remediation work in the basement and on upper floors at 1542 Tulane Ave.  The basement is expected to require the majority of the 45 day contract to complete, while work on the upper floors should average approximately 10 days per floor.  While remediation is underway, access to the basement, 1^st floor and the upper floor(s) being cleaned will be restricted.  Specific updates on progress are as follows:
  • 8^th Floor:  Cleaning is complete.
  • 7^th Floor: Cleaning is complete.
  • 6^th Floor: Cleaning is in progress.
  • 5^th Floor: Cleaning has begun.
  • Mechanical Rooms:  Cleaning is in progress on the 7^th, 6^th and 5^th floors.
  • Duct Work:  The duct work on the 8^th and 5^th floor has been cleaned.  The cleaning of the ducts on the 4^th floor has just begun.
  • Basement:  Cleaning has progressed, but it has been temporarily interrupted by a power problem.  Work is expected to resume soon.
  • The Walk To Wellness and the walkway near Stanislaus Hall have been cleaned.
• The temporary repairs to the School of Dentistry Clinic and Administration buildings continue.      
  • The temporary chiller and generators are on line at the Dental School Clinic and Administration buildings and the buildings are being cooled. 
  • Demolition of flood damaged building materials related to the environmental remediation is substantially complete in the basement and on the 1^st floors of both the Clinic and Administration buildings.
  • The fire pump has been delivered to the site and is being installed. 
  • The electrical contractor is continuing to progress with the work on a temporary electrical power feeds and the installation of temporary conduit, etc.
    • Temporary power from the generator is now available in the building.
    • The temporary switch gear has been delivered and installation is complete.
  • The air compressor has been received on site. 
  • The domestic water pumps are installed and operating at the Dental School and the two main buildings have partial water pressure.  (The City has been notified of the low pressure to the buildings.)  Domestic water is still off while isolation valves being installed to isolate damaged sinks on 7th floor.
  • Housekeeping pads for temporary equipment being placed in the basement have been poured.
  • The temporary boiler is being connected to the building systems.
  • The platform for the air compressors is being set up in the power plant.
  • The condenser water pumps arrived and are being set in place.
  • Heating hot water pumps have arrived and are being set in place.
  • Electrical distribution panels for the basements are being mounted and installed.
• The permanent repairs to building elevators continue. Elevators that have been repaired, inspected and certified for passenger use include:
  • All of the Stanislaus Hall elevators.
  • All five of the elevators in the Lion’s/LSU Clinic Building.  
  • The MEB elevators.  (Repairs to the damaged elevator floors are underway.)
  • The elevators in the Residence Hall.  (Repairs to the damaged elevator floors are underway.)
  • The passenger elevators in the Nursing/Allied Health Building.   (Repairs to the damaged elevator floors are underway.)
  • Two passenger elevators in the Resource Center. 
  • Roman St. Parking Garage – The contractor has begun making repairs to the two passenger elevators. 
• The contractor for the permanent repairs to the MEB Lecture Rooms, the Gross Anatomy Lab, the Morgue, and the Multidisciplinary Labs has crews on site and is progressing on the work.  
  • Demolition of damaged areas is largely complete.  Drywall has been removed, and the case goods have been removed from the Gross Anatomy Lab and the Morgue.
  • The flood damaged air handling unit that serves the large lecture rooms has been removed.
  • Coring of the slab to accommodate conduit that will carry new electrical service and network wiring to the individual seats has been completed.
  • Wall insulation has been installed.
  • New drywall is being installed in the two large lecture rooms; approximately 80% complete in Lecture Room B.
• Contracts to repair the fire alarm systems and their components in downtown campus buildings have been awarded to the vendors who currently provide annual maintenance to the systems.  This approach will insure that the systems can be re-certified and remain under the existing maintenance contract.  Several of the systems have been repaired and inspected and work continues in the remaining buildings. 
  • CSRB, Lion’s/LSU Clinic Building and the MEB:  Completed and inspected. 
  • Stanislaus Hall: A temporary occupancy permit has been issued and the list of deficiencies is being addressed and will be resolved shortly.
  • Nursing/Allied Health:  A temporary occupancy permit has been issued and the identified deficiencies will be addressed within the next few weeks.
  • Residence Hall: The repairs have been substantially completed.  Final repairs have been made to door closers and the State Fire Marshal has inspected the building and approved reoccupancy.
  • Resource Center:  The repairs were completed and the State Fire Marshal approved the reoccupancy of the building on May 31^st.      
• The contract for the repairs to the emergency generators at the CSRB, MEB, Lion’s Eye Center, Nursing/Allied Health Bldg., Resource Center and the Residence Hall has been awarded.  The following is the most recent status of the repairs:
  • The repairs have been completed on the roof mounted generator at the MEB.  This provides emergency power to the majority of the researcher’s freezers and walk in coolers in that building.
  • CSRB – the generator has been repaired, fueled, and tested.  Power is available to outlets and emergency lights, but two other transfer switches require some additional adjustments.   
  • Lion’s/LSU Clinic Building – the generator has been repaired, fueled, and successfully tested.  
  • Residence Hall – Both of the emergency generators for the Residence Hall have been installed and are being connected to the building’s electrical systems. 
  • MEB – the generator has been reassembled.  The initial testing revealed a bad voltage regulator and the replacement part has been ordered. 
• After experiencing 2 short term power outages in the CSRB, the switch gear manufacturer’s representative was requested to perform further tests of the switchgear to determine the need for additional temporary repairs.   Repairs have been determined to require the replacement of the building feeders which require shut downs of power to portions of the building.  To minimize disruption, the work is being scheduled over weekend periods.
  • The replacement of the air conditioning feeder at the CSRB was completed on June 3^rd.   Additional work is being scheduled.
• The replacement of 20 year old carpeting in the Resource Center has been completed.  The Library has been reopened.   
• A contract has been issued for repairs to the medical air compressors, vacuum pumps and water purifiers at the CSRB, Lion’s Eye Center and the MEB.  An updated status follows:
  • The vacuum pumps in the CSRB and the Lion’s/LSU Clinic were tested on Friday, June 9^th.  The medical air pumps in the CSRB and the MEB were also tested.  The entire system (medical air, vacuum, etc.) will be tested in all three buildings on Monday, June 12^th. 
  • The deionized water systems in the CSRB and the MEB became operational on June 6^th.  Pumps are still needed to distribute the water throughout the buildings. 
    • The MEB pump was turned on and tested on 6/7.
    • The replacement pump for the CSRB is on order and has not been received at this time.
• Upgrades to the Seminar Rooms on the 3^rd floor of the MEB have been underway for some time.  New carpeting has been laid, new and improved lighting has been installed, the old chalk boards have been replaced with new marker boards, all the rooms have been freshly painted, and wireless network connectivity is being installed.  These new teaching facilities should be available for use by the students who begin their next semester on the New Orleans campus.
• The new city water pumps for the Nursing/Allied Health Building have been delivered.  It is possible that these new pumps can be installed without a shut down of water in the building.  The feasibility of that option is being assessed.  Should a shut down of building water be needed, it will be scheduled and coordinated in advance with the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health.
• Permanent repairs to building windows on the downtown campus have been bid and the contract has been awarded.  The contractor is now on site and work is underway. 
  • The broken glass in the door leading to the walkway on the MEB side has been replaced. 
  • The various glass panels needed to replace the damaged panels have been ordered.  Due to the long lead times for many of these glass systems, they have also done some additional temporary repairs; taping up some windows and boarding up others. 

Please continue to follow our progress through our Daily Updates that are also available on the web site.