From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject: Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #19
Posted: June 23, 2006

The final push to complete critical, temporary repairs to major buildings is underway.  The two contractors responsible for making these repairs to the School of Dentistry’s Clinic and Administration Buildings continue to work diligently.  Parts are arriving regularly and they are installed as rapidly as possible once they are on site.  Emergency power and cooling have been made available in the building and researchers have been able to access their labs to clean out refrigerators, freezers, etc., since late May.  City water is available, but pressures have been low.  The temporary switchgear is now installed and connected to the Entergy-New Orleans power grid.  Details on specific accomplishments and progress are provided below.

With the opening of the Resource Center at the beginning of June, all of the key downtown campus buildings are occupied; 2^nd floors and higher, except for the old Medical School Building at 1542 Tulane Ave.  The necessary temporary repairs to that building have been placed under contract and work has begun.  The environmental remediation in that building is expected to be finished by the end of June.  Temporary repairs to critical building systems are scheduled to be completed on or about August 15^th, but the availability of some long lead time items (already on order) may impact on the completion schedule.

Both of the design teams (architects & engineers) are working to reconcile their assessments of the damage to the various buildings with the FEMA team’s assessments.  This task is critical, as it will insure that as specifications are developed for the permanent repairs, the scope of work in the bids will be fully eligible for FEMA reimbursement.  The eventual permanent repairs will also involve the elevation of critical building components and functions to prevent repetitive damage should a similar event ever occur.

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.  While remediation is underway, access to the basement, 1^st floor and the specific 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 complete.
  • 5^th Floor: Cleaning is in progress.
  • 4^th Floor: Cleaning is in progress.
  • 3^rd Floor: Cleaning is in progress.
  • 2^nd Floor: Cleaning to begin on 6/26.
  • 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 is in progress.
  • Basement:  Cleaning is underway.   The contractor expects to finish in the basement next week.
  • 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. 
  • The riser pipes for the building sprinkler systems are connected and repaired.
  • The heating hot water pumps are connected.  The contractor is waiting on heat exchanger to be delivered.
  • The fire pump has been installed and it will be tested in the near future.
  • The medical air, vacuum and control air compressor have been delivered to the Dental School. 
  • The medical air, vacuum and control air compressor have been delivered to the Dental School.  The air handling units for the basement and 1^st floor have been mounted, and will be connected.
  • The switchgear installation is complete and it is connected to Entergy New Orleans electrical power.  
  • 2 of the 4 sump pumps have been delivered and installation will now begin.
  • The installation of the heat exchanger is 80% complete and the installation of the hot water pumps is 90% complete. 
  • Work on the installation of temporary walls in the Clinic building is underway.  The walls have been erected and the sheetrock and doorframes are in place. Taping and floating of the sheetrock is to follow.  This task provides temporary walls to define egress on first floor.
  • The fire pump has been installed and successfully tested. 
  • The heating hot water pump installation is complete and the installation of the heat exchangers has also been finished.
  • The floor drains in the pump room and the temporary switchgear room have been cleared of all debris and are free flowing.
  • The exhaust fans have been delivered and are being prepared for installation.
  • The pump out of the elevator pits in the Clinic and Administration Buildings at the Dental School is scheduled to be completed over the weekend. 
  • The temporary domestic water pump is currently being installed at the Dental School.
• 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.   (Repairs to the damaged elevator floors are underway.)
  • 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. 
    • The 1^st floor doors for the Resource Center elevators have been replaced.
  • Roman St. Parking Garage – The contractor has begun making repairs to the two passenger elevators. 
  • Repairs to the freight elevators in both the Nursing/Allied Health Building and the Resource Center are complete.  The State Elevator Inspector is scheduled to conduct the inspections on Monday, June 26^th. 
• 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.
  • Wall insulation has been installed.
  • New drywall has been installed in the two large lecture rooms.  The taping and floating of the newly installed sheetrock in the two large lecture halls in the MEB is complete. 
  • The contractor has begun the replacement of the damaged ceiling tiles in the Gross Anatomy Lab.
• 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.
  • 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 successfully tested.   
  • MEB – the generator has been reassembled.  The initial testing revealed a bad voltage regulator and the replacement part has been ordered. 
  • Nursing/Allied Health – The repairs are complete and the generator has been successfully tested.  However, problems with the transfer switch for the elevators have surfaced and are being addressed.
• 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. 
  • 2 of the 4 electrical feeders making up the “A” riser were replaced over the weekend of 6/17.  The remaining work on this riser will be accomplished with an outage over the weekend of 6/24.  
• 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 CSRB medical air and vacuum pumps have been put back on line. Vacuum and medical air is now available for use in the building.
  • The Lion’s/LSU Clinic Building vacuum pump has also been put back on line. Vacuum is available for use.
  • The de-ionized water systems are now working in both the MEB and the CSRB.  The CSRB system will have a 2^nd pump installed to complete the repairs, so that the pumps can alternate their operations.  But the system is operating with the single pump at this time.
  • Both the high and low pressure medical air systems are now in operation in the MEB.
• 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, installed and are operating.
• 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.