From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #69
Posted: May 23, 2008

In our continuing effort to improve the quality of our facilities, we are undertaking a series of construction projects during the summer months. Although the scope and quantity of projects is ambitious, we will make every effort to minimize inconvenience to all. Below is our anticipated schedule with a brief description of each project:

START DATE: MONDAY, 5/26/08:

• MEB Lecture Rooms A and B: This project will include replacement and enhancement of Audio/Visual equipment to make it state-of-the-art. This includes a new audio system, connection to the Access Grid, recording equipment, and an enhanced lectern that allows for easy reconfiguration of A/V to suit presentation needs. It is planned to be completed in about 2 months.

START DATE: TUESDAY, 5/27/08:

• MEB 2nd Floor Elevator Lobby Renovation: This project will convert this area into lounge seating on carpeted islands for students awaiting class or with furniture removed for receptions. It will include demolition of all surfaces, removal of Facility Services offices, and renovation to include new ceilings, walls and flooring.
• Residence Hall 2nd Floor Lobby Expansion: This project will extend and enclose the Residence Hall end of the walkway to the MEB. It will include demolition of existing flooring and exterior glass, installation of new flooring and new storefront to allow enlargement of the lobby area.
• Library Commons Renovation: This project will include the installation of interactive student study area and lounge, complete with Coffee Kiosk. There will be two study rooms with large flat screen displays with IT connections that will enable student group study or development of class projects. The entryway will also have displays for historic and artistic pieces. When complete, this space will be available 24 hours a day. Work includes demolition of all surfaces and the installation of new ceilings, flooring, lighting and furniture on the 3rd Floor from the interior stairwell to the Gravier Street side of the building.

START DATE: MONDAY, 6/2/08:

• MEB Multidisciplinary Disciplinary Laboratory Number 5: includes demolition and replacement of floor and ceilings, lab furniture and accordion partitions.

START DATE: EARLY JUNE, 2008:

• MEB 4th Floor Corridor Ceilings: includes demolition and replacement of corridor ceilings, including lighting, similar to work done 2 years ago on the 3rd floor corridors.

START DATE: MID-JUNE, 2008:

• Dental 6th and 8th Floor Lab Renovations. New labs in support of developing research enterprise at the School of Dentistry. This project includes demolition and renovation of Research Laboratory space for the Center of Excellence in Oral and Craniofacial Biology.

START DATE: ABOUT JULY 1, 2008:

• Dental Auditoriums A and B: This project includes the complete upgrade and renovation of Auditoriums A and B into state-of-the-art facilities, including stepped seating area, tables wired for power and IT, new air conditioning, and replacement of ceilings, flooring, and wall coverings. New A/V equipment includes new screens, a new audio system, connection to the Access Grid, recording equipment, and an enhanced lectern that allows for easy reconfiguration of A/V to suit presentation needs.
• Downtown Perimeter Fencing: This project includes the demolition of existing chain link fencing for Residence Hall and Student Lots 1 & 2. New fencing along prominent areas will be constructed of masonry and decorative metal.

START DATE: LATE JULY, 2008:

• MEB 5th Floor Research Lab and Pharmacology office renovation. This work includes demolition and replacement of walls, and installation of new lighting, technology, and lab furniture. Contract documents are nearing completion.

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:

• CMI is installing sheetrock on the new interior walls for the Cohn Learning Center that is being re-built on the 6th Floor.
• The mechanical sub-contractor continues working on the mechanical systems on the 2nd and 6th Floors.
• The plumbers are working in the laboratory space on the 7th Floor.
• The electricians continue their work on the 6th Floor.
• There was a domestic hot and cold water outage in the building on Saturday, May 17th from 4:00 AM to 6:30 PM to allow the contractor to work on new plumbing connection.

Repair Work at 1542 Tulane Ave.:

• Elevator Repairs:
  • Stratos changed the buffer for Elevator # 7.
  • Stratos installed new whisper-flex cable for Elevator #7.
  • Stratos installed the cab walls in Elevator #7.
  • Stratos installed the cab roof for Elevator #7.
  • Stratos is installing cab roof components (device mounts, ceiling fixtures, etc.) for Elevator #7.
    • The contractor is changing out the rollers.
• Final Remediation and Cleaning:
  • Zimmer-Eschette has removed the floor tile from the vestibule of the auditorium and in the loft of Room 108A.
    • The areas passed the visual inspection and were sampled.
  • Zimmer finished cleaning rooms 109H and 108 behind Elevators #1, #2, and #3.
    • The areas passed visual inspection and samples were taken.
• Painting:
  • The contractor finished painting the handrails in Stairwell C (Center Corridor).
• Carpet Installation:
  • Royerre Commercial Carpet is finishing the installation of carpet in 4th Floor offices along Tulane Ave.
  • The flooring contractor finished installing VCT and cove base in the auditorium on the 2nd Floor balcony.
  • Crews are installing carpet tiles in offices on the 2nd Floor along the center corridor.
  • They are installing cove base and transition strips in offices on the 2nd Floor along the center corridor.
• Network Upgrades:
  • Boe-Tel installed the telecommunication ground wires for the network closets on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Floors.
  • Boe-Tel finished testing the switch for the 1st Floor network closet and has terminated the telephone feeder cable.
  • Boe-Tel tested the switch in the 3rd Floor network closet.
  • Boe-Tel finished testing the phone connections in the 3rd Floor network closet.
• New Furniture:
  • The Herman-Miller Group continues to install conference room furniture on the 4th through the 7th Floors.
  • The Herman Miller Group is assembling and installing new furniture on the 5th and 6th Floors.
• Construction Walls:
  • The contractor has primed the new construction walls that have been erected on Floors 1 through 8.
  • The contractor finished installing the doors in the construction walls on Floors 1 through 8.
  • They finished painting the construction walls on Floors 5 - 8.
  • The contractor is painting the remaining construction walls on Floors 1 - 4.
• Misc.
  • Trison finished sealing the ceiling holes in the main corridor on Floors 2 and 3.
    • They are installing ceiling tiles in the patched areas.
  • The contractor finished fire-caulking the mechanical room walls on the 2nd through the 8th Floors and is prepping the walls for paint.
  • Merit Sprinkler completed the repairs for the dry-pipe system on the 8th Floor and has returned the system to service.

Repair Work at the Dental School:

• Permanent Roof Repairs:
  • Needham Roofing installed 53 squares of the granulated cap sheet and the cut-in stripping along the perimeter walls of the Clinic Building main roof.
  • Needham Roofing completed the installation of the granulated cap sheet on the remainder of the main roof of the Clinic Building.
    • Crews continue to complete the associated metal work.
    • Needham Roofing prepped the metal flashing for the Clinic Building roof and will begin the installation when the weather permits.
  • Crews are waterproofing the pre-cast panel joints at the parapet walls.
    • They cut out the old material, install new backer rod, and caulk the joints.
  • They have completed caulking the pre-cast joints on the penthouse and the parapet walls along the perimeter of the Clinic Building roof.
  • They started installing the metal flat bars above the flashing of the parapet walls to help prevent water from getting under the roof material.
  • They have loaded material on the Administration Building roof to begin installing the granulated cap sheet on the 5th Floor balcony of the Clinic Building.
• Elevator Repairs:
  • Schindler ran conduit for the car operator and installed the cables for the hoist way on Elevator #2 in the Clinic Building.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Alfortish Enterprises completed sandblasting the surface of the stone pavers on the walkways to improve the slip resistance in rainy weather.

MEB Roof Replacement:

• The contractor is installing the metal trim edge on the penthouses and the parapet walls on the perimeter of the roof.

Downtown Landscaping Project:

• A large shipment of landscaping plants was delivered.
• Nozzles were installed on the turf spray sprinklers on the Perdido St. side of the MEB in preparation for laying new centipede sod on Tuesday.
• The crews performed minor grading and weed removal before installing new centipede sod on the Perdido St. side of the MEB.
  • Five pallets of sod were laid.
• IIrrigation station #16 was activated on the automatic controller to water the new sod.

MEB Trash Chute

• Zimmer completed removing all of the trash from the chute and are prepared to continue the cleaning of the entire chute.
• Zimmer completed the pre-treatment chemical wash in preparation for pressure washing the chute.
• Zimmer completed cleaning and sanitizing the entire length of the trash chute.

Miscellaneous:

• On Saturday, May 17th, there was a building-wide hot water outage at Sister Stanislaus Memorial Hall. This outage began at 9:00 AM and end by 11:00 PM. This outage was needed to allow some steam piping and valves to be repaired.
• On Friday, May 23rd, there were outages on the 6th Floors of the Medical Education and Clinical Sciences Research Buildings. These outages began at 6:00 PM and ended by 11:00 PM.
  • The MEB 6th Floor had outages of the vacuum system and the hot and cold domestic water.
  • The CSRB 6th Floor had outages of the hot and cold domestic water.
  • These outages were needed in order to cap lines on these floors.

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