From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #68
Posted: May 9, 2008

The project to complete permanent repairs and the hazard mitigation work at the Lions/LSU Clinic Building is proceeding well. Crews are now working on three floors; the 2nd, the 6th, and the 7th. The walls that will enclose the critical mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment on the 2nd Floor are being framed and dry walled. The 6th Floor interior walls for the Cohn Learning Center have been framed and dry wall is being installed, while the rough in electrical, mechanical, and plumbing work is proceeding. On the 7th Floor, the walls for the laboratory have been framed and the dry wall is going up. The rough in mechanical, electrical and plumbing is also proceeding in this area.

At 1542 Tulane Ave., the final remediation and cleaning work continues. Significant portions of the building have been remediated and/or cleaned and the air samples have passed. The entrance hallway on the side of the 1st Floor has been cleaned and re-opened. The painters are progressing well in completing their work. The majority of the rooms and hallways where the peeling, lead-based paint was removed have been cleaned, primed and re-painted. Most of the stairwells have also been repainted. The ceiling tile replacement has been finished throughout the portion of the building that will be re-occupied initially. The new ceiling light fixtures are being installed in all of the areas that have drop ceilings. The old lay in fixtures in the hallways are being replaced, as are the lights in the parking garage.

The installation of carpet at 1542 Tulane Ave. has continued. Many of the spaces in the upper floors have been completed, while the majority of the remaining work is concentrated on the 1st and 2nd Floors. The furniture installers continue to set up and install furniture in the offices on upper floors where the ceiling tile replacement, painting and carpeting has been finished. Significant amounts of furniture still remain to be uncrated and installed. The temporary construction walls that will seal off the old section of the building from the sections to be re-occupied are being built. The elevator contractor is now focusing on repairs to Elevator #7. A great deal has been accomplished in preparing the front and center sections of the building for re-occupation, but much still remains to be done.

The contract for the replacement of the roof on the Medical Education Building is progressing well. Over the past two weeks, a substantial portion of the granulated cap sheet (which is the final ply of the 4 ply system) has been installed over the main roof deck. New stands for the roof mounted air handling units have been moved onto the roof and will be installed shortly.

The temporary bookstore at the Dental School is substantially complete. A new electrical panel that will provide for additional power needs in the area has been installed and energized. Auxiliary Enterprises has been notified that they may begin to move their operations into the new space. The elevator contractor completed the additional repairs to the freight elevator caused by the roof leaks in February and the elevator has been certified for normal use once again.

A project to sand blast the black granite paving stone laid around the Dental Administration and Clinic Buildings is underway. The sand blasting will create a non-slip surface and prevent slipping when the pavers get wet. We have also issued bids for a contract to renovate and enhance Auditoriums A & B. The pre-bid conference was recently held and bids are due shortly.

During the heavy rains two weekend ago, we experienced another significant roof leak at the Dental School. The Clinic Building penthouse roof had been partially replaced and had not been adequately sealed (temporarily) to withstand the heavy rainfall on Saturday or Sunday. There was also one penetration on the Administration Building roof that had not been adequately sealed. Fortunately, the damages were less harmful to the overall building operations than those that resulted from the February event. However, the network was down in the building until mid-morning on Monday when service was restored. A number of areas have had ceiling tile damaged, water saturated the carpeting on the lower floor of the Administration Building Auditorium, and water entered limited areas on a number of floors in the Clinic Building. The damages are being accumulated and costs estimated so that they may be submitted to the contractor’s insurance company.

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

Lions/LSU Clinic Permanent Repairs and Mitigation:

• On Saturday, May 10th and Sunday, May 11th from 7 AM until 6 PM each day, a contractor will be core drilling the floors on 6 and 7 in the Lions/LSU Clinics Building. Core drilling is the process of drilling holes large enough for pipes to be run through a concrete slab. In the case of the Lions/LSU Clinics Building, the slab is a post-tension type. Drilling through a post-tension slab can be dangerous. Therefore, no one is allowed to occupy floors 5, 6 or 7 during the above times. Furthermore, we strongly recommend that no one plan on occupying any floor in the Lions/LSU Clinics Building during these hours. This work will provide the expanded infrastructure needed in this building related to the permanent repairs and mitigation project.
• CMI is working on the mechanical systems on the 2nd, 6th and 7th floors.
• Their plumbers continue to complete the rough in plumbing on the 6th and 7th Floors.
• The electricians are roughing in the electrical on 6th and 7th Floors.
• Crews have started installing sheetrock on the new walls that form the laboratory on the 7th Floor.
• CMI started framing up interior walls and installing sheet rock on the 2nd Floor.

Repair Work at 1542 Tulane Ave.:

• Entergy New Orleans required an electrical outage at the building. The outage was needed to facilitate permanent repairs to an underground feeder that was damaged by the heavy rains and resulting local flooding last weekend.
• Elevator Repairs:
  • Stratos resumed work on Elevator #7.
    • Stratos finished installing the lighting in the #7 Elevator shaft.
    • Stratos changed out the lobby door hardware for Elevator #7 on Floors 5 though 8.
    • They have started to replace the tracks and rollers.
  • The contractor is removing the old dismantled controllers from Elevator #7 and #8 from the penthouse.
• Final Remediation and Cleaning:
  • Zimmer-Eschette finished removing the peeling paint from the 1st Floor corridor offices near the side entrance to the building.
  • Zimmer-Eschette finished cleaning the corridor and offices near the side entrance on the 1st floor.
    • The area passed the visual inspection and was tested.
    • The samples were clean and the area has been re-opened.
  • Asbestos cleaning is complete in the rooms off the 1st Floor hallway.
    • These have been sampled.
• Painting:
  • The contractor has completed all of the painting on Floors 2 through 8.
    • They are doing cut in work on the 1st Floor.
  • The painting contractor finished painting the middle stairwell along Tulane (Stairwell C).
  • The painting crews finished the back stairwell on the Claiborne side of the building.
  • The contractor finished painting in Stairwell D and has begun to prepare the handrails in Stairwell C for paint.
• Carpet Installation:
  • Royerre Commercial Carpet has finished installing carpet in the offices on the 1st Floor along the center corridor on the Charity side of the building.
    • They continue to install carpet in the 1st Floor offices on the I-10 side.
    • The installers are working in the 2nd Floor in the offices along the center corridor.
• Network Upgrades:
  • Boe-Tel finished installing the telephone feeder cables serving the network closet on the 2nd Floor.
• New Furniture:
  • The Herman-Miller Group is assembling and installing modular furniture units in offices on the 5th, 6th, and 7th Floors.
  • Herman-Miller is installing conference room furniture on the 4th through the 7th Floors.
• Ceiling Light Fixtures:
  • Hogues & Associates is changing out the lay-in fixtures in the hallway on Floors 2 through 7.
  • Hogues is installing new light fixtures in the garage.
• Misc.
  • Trison is sealing the corridor ceiling holes on the 6th, 7th, and 8th Floors.
  • The contractor is floating and sanding the construction walls on the 2nd through the 8th Floors. These walls will seal off the rear portions of the building that will not be re-occupied initially.

Repair Work at the Dental School:

• Permanent Roof Repairs:
  • Needham resumed work on the main roof of the Clinic Building.
    • They tore off and replaced 3 squares of material in order to trace the wet insulation.
    • They secured temporary seams to prepare for rain that was forecast for last Friday and Saturday.
  • Needham Roofing tore off and replaced 5 and one half squares of material on the main roof of the Clinic Building.
  • Needham Roofing installed an additional 67 squares of the granulated cap sheet on the main roof of the Clinic Building.
  • The edge stripping along the parapet walls and Penthouse was installed.
  • Supplies were also received to re-caulk the joints in the pre-cast panels of the penthouse and parapet walls.
  • Needham Roofing installed pitch pans at the penetrations for the roof top equipment on the east side of the Clinic Building main roof.　
    • Additional pitch pans were also installed on the main roof.
• Elevator Repairs:
  • The freight elevator has been certified and released for normal operation.
  • Schindler started wiring the hoist way for Elevator #2 in the Clinic Building.　
• Temporary Bookstore:
  • Sherlocks Construction shut down the power to the bookstore and a portion of the Library and successfully connected and energized the new transformer and panels.
    • There is now additional power available for existing equipment and for future use.
  • The Substantial Completion documentation has been submitted and the Bookstore staff have been notified that they may move into the store and begin preparing to re-open.
• Auditorium A & B Renovations:
  • The pre-bid conference for the project to renovate the A and B auditoriums was held.
• Misc.:
  • A contractor has sandblasted the black stone pavers around the Administration Building. This has created a nonskid surface which reduces the risks of slipping and falling.
    • They will begin in the courtyard next week.

MEB Roof Replacement:

• Crawford has completed the installation of the majority of the mineral cap sheet (final layer) on the main roof.
  • A small section of the roof at the corner of S. Roman St. and Perdido St. remains to be completed.　
• New stands for the air handling units (AHUs) that supply the penthouse and elevator rooms are being set on the main roof.

Downtown Landscaping Project:

• The crews completed the installation of new bedding plants and mulch on the Perdido St. and Bolivar St. sides of the MEB.　

We encourage you to follow the details of our progress through the daily updates which are posted on the web site.