From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #25
Posted: September 20, 2006

The food service operation in the Medical Education Building reopened on Monday, September 11, 2006. Hours of operation are 7:00 AM to 2:30 PM, Monday through Friday. Catering services also resumed with the opening of the facility. The coffee kiosk in the Atrium resumed operations on Monday, September 18th. Its hours of operation are from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

The contractor responsible for temporary electrical and mechanical repairs to the critical building systems at 1542 Tulane continues to make good progress. Many of the details are provided later in this update. Additional repairs necessary to allow re-occupancy of the building are now being identified. Several change orders have been developed and pricing is being solicited from the contractor. As the change orders are approved, work will begin.

Work on the repairs to the Dental School Clinic and Administration buildings also continues. The majority of the initial contract work has been completed. However, there are a number of additional work items that have been identified as required to allow reoccupation and use of the upper floors of the Clinic and Administration Building. Change Orders have been issued for some of these tasks and work is already underway on some of the critical items.

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

• The temporary repairs to the School of Dentistry Clinic and Administration buildings continue.

  • Pipe Insulation labeling/identification continues.

    • The contractors have completed the labeling/identification of the heating hot water pipe.

    • Our contractors have completed the labeling/identification of the steam condensate pipe.

    • The contractors have completed the labeling/identification of the ice water pipe.

    • The pipe insulators are also changing some insulation that was damaged by construction.

    • The contractors are continuing to label the remaining water pipes (Domestic Hot & Cold) in the basement. The pipe insulators are also changing some insulation that was damaged by construction.

  • Repairs to the Soft Water System are progressing.

    • All three of the soft water tanks have had the pipes & gauges changed. The contractor is making plans to partially fill the tanks and is preparing the system for testing.

    • The contractor has filled the tanks & has added the salt mixture. All that remains is the start-up & testing of the system. Start-up will commence once the repair of the Motor Control Center has completed. This change order is being reviewed by the Architect.

  • Mold remediation of heavily molded rooms (6413B, 6409, & 7409A) is complete.

    • The contractors have installed the new drywall and have completed the application of new wall finishes for these areas (i.e. paint and cove base).

    • The contractors have removed the safety barriers around these areas & are awaiting inspection.

  • The emergency generator is progressing towards completion.

    • The emergency generator has been successfully load tested (before final connections are made to the building systems).

    • The generator has been refueled to 100% & is ready to operate.

    • It has now been connected to the building systems.

  • The Medical Gas System is being rescheduled for testing pending the arrival of gas cylinders which are to be provided by LSUHSC.

    • The medical gas cylinders arrived and are staged on the loading dock for use in the testing of the medical gas system.

  • The Elevator contractor is still awaiting additional parts & new elevator doors prior to resuming work on the elevators. Additional parts are expected to arrive within a couple of weeks.

  • The contractor replaced a damaged cover panel (damaged during shipping) on one of the refrigerated air dryers for the Compressed Air System

  • The contractor pressure washed the slab & cleared the floor drain strainers in the mechanical room of the basement.

  • The damaged vehicles stored at the Dental School Campus have been removed.

• The contract has been awarded for additional repairs to the chilled water pump and related mechanical/electrical components in the Central Utility Plant, attached to the Roman St. Garage.

  • The Variable Speed Drive Motor has been repaired and is ready for installation, once it has been delivered to the site.

    • The VFD is scheduled to arrive early this week. The contractor will mobilize and begin the installation as soon as the motor has been delivered.

    • The line filters have arrived and are stored at the electrician’s warehouse.

  • The repair of the pump for the chillers has been delayed by the subcontractors and is a week or more out from being ready for installation.

• Temporary repairs to critical electrical & mechanical systems at 1542 Tulane Ave. continue.

  • Switch gear and building power:

    • The contractor continues testing the wires and connections of the switchgear. They are also tracing out existing circuits to determine what they feed.

    • Entergy pulled the damaged feeders out of the vault.

    • Entergy and the contractor finished pulling wires into the vault to supply power to all of the new panels in the basement. The new Entergy vault equipment has been installed.

    • The cables from the vault to the 13.8 Switchgear are now connected.

    • Entergy has finished installing their meters.

    • The contractor has labeled the new panel boxes that are connected to the transformer and the equipment they will feed. They have also red taped all pipes and conduit with high voltage wires.

    • Testing of the cables for the 4th floor riser continues. They have begun connecting the cables to the power and the feeds to the 4th floor riser. The grounds are also being run and connected.

    • The engineers must complete an inspection of all the work prior to a formal request can be made to Entergy to energize the building.

  • The contractor is in the process of changing out the motors and the controllers for the fire pumps in the basement.

  • The engineering firm has been working on drawings and specifications to add insulation to the piping in the basement and supplying power to the elevators. They are also working on plans to provide power and replace mechanical components that will make the building more suitable for occupancy.

• MEB Repair Updates:

  • Lecture Halls -- The remaining electrical components for Lecture Room A have been delivered and the installation completed.

    • Recent testing reveals a number of problems and the electricians are investigating at this time.

  • The seating contractor reports that the replacements for all of the damaged items (tops and modesty panels) will ship no later than 9/19. These will be installed over a weekend so as to not interfere with classes.

• The contractor making permanent window repairs to the downtown campus is progressing well.

  • The replacement glass doors for the Residence Hall have been delivered and they have been installed.

  • The six windows at 1542 Tulane Ave. have been replaced.

  • The two windows on the east side of the Nursing/Allied Health Building have been replaced.

  • There are two more windows to replace on the main campus. There is one on the east side CSRB and the other is on the first floor of the Resource Center.

  • The additional windows needed are on order and delivery is still anticipated to be several weeks out.

• The manufacturer of the Dental School incinerator has started the initial repairs. They have begun removing damaged controls and they are replacing the 800K BTU burner.

• Flooded vehicles have been removed from the downtown campus parking lots.
  Please continue to follow our progress through our Daily Updates that are also available on the web site.