The focus on completing the remaining temporary repairs that will allow key buildings to be re-opened has continued. We are cautiously optimistic that all of the critical work that remains to be done at 1542 Tulane Ave. has been identified and is either completed, or will be under change orders that have been approved. We have asked the downtown campus design team to carefully review their work and plans so that we can insure that nothing critical remains to be addressed.

Similarly, at the Dental School campus we have been focusing on the remaining work necessary to allow the School to return to the campus for the start of their next academic year. The environmental remediation and duct cleaning contract will be awarded soon. The old ceiling tile grid is being removed and the bid documents for the ceiling tile replacement on floors 2 and above have been delivered and are under review. Critical doors within the buildings that have been identified by the State Fire Marshal as required for occupancy are being repaired or replaced. A proposal to install a new voice and data network awaits final approval.

As the majority of the temporary repair projects begin to wind down and conclude, we have asked our design teams to begin to shift their focus back to plans for permanent repairs and the corresponding Section 406 Mitigation proposals. A proposal for the Lions/LSU Clinic building has been revised to address some of the elements originally reviewed and determined to be ineligible for participation and re-submitted to FEMA. At the same time, the design work for the elements of the original proposal that FEMA agreed would be eligible is underway.

Some permanent roof repair projects are being developed for both the downtown campus and Dental School campus buildings. The downtown campus architects are working on Section 406 Mitigation proposals for the CSRB, the Central Utility Plant, the MEB, and 1542 Tulane Ave. The Dental School architects have begun work on a 406 Mitigation plan that would construct an additional building adjacent to the Power Plant that would house critical mechanical, electrical and plumbing components previously located in the basement, as well as critical clinic functions that were located on the 1st floor of the Clinic Building.

As these design concepts are prepared and validated, LSUHSC and the State Public Assistance Office will package them and forward them for an initial review and comment by FEMA. Proposals that receive favorable comments will move into the design and development phase which will produce the complete and detailed proposals that will be submitted for final review and approval by FEMA.

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

Project to Make Temporary Repairs to the Dental School:

• The elevator contractor continues to make progress on the repairs to the elevators in the Clinic and Administration Buildings.
  • They have moved the damaged motors out of the buildings.
  • The contractor worked on Elevator #3 on the 1st and 8th floors of the Dental Clinic Building.
  • They completed some fine tuning on various elevators in the Clinic Building.
  • They are still waiting on the installation of disconnects in the Administration building.
  • The contractor also made repairs to one of the other elevators on the 7th floor of the Clinic Building.
• With the replacement of a substantial portion of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment at the Dental School, the LSUHSC Facility Services personnel required significant training on the operations and proper maintenance of the newly installed equipment.

• Multiple training sessions were scheduled over the period of almost two weeks.
• Training was provided by the contractor, sub-contractors, and manufacturers of the new equipment (as appropriate).
• All of the scheduled training has been delivered.

• The mandatory pre-bid conference was held for the bid to provide the environmental remediation and duct cleaning in the Dental School Clinic and Administration buildings.
  • Over 40 separate prospective bidders attended the mandatory pre-bid conference.
  • Bids are due to be opened shortly.
• A contract was issued by LSUHSC to remove the ceiling tile grid from the Clinic and Administration buildings in preparation for the ceiling tile replacement project. Work is now underway.
  • All of the grid has been removed from the 8th floor of the Clinic Building.
  • All of the grid has been removed from the 2nd floor of the Clinic Building.
  • All of the grid has been removed from the 2nd floor of the Administration Building and the breezeway that connects the buildings.
  • Work is underway on the 3rd floors of both buildings and the crews were planning to work over the weekend.
•  The FEMA 406 Hazard Mitigation team made a site visit to the Dental School campus, so that they could become more familiar with the extent of the damage and the complexity of the plans for effective mitigation measures.
•  A team of engineers from AT&T came to the site to determine the routing of conduit and the locations of pull boxes in the basement, as well as the location of the 2" conduit and the 4" conduit in the riser.
  • They also inspected Room 5312 were the telecommunications equipment is going to be located.
  • Cingular called to arrange access to the roof of the Dental School Clinic Building where their equipment is located.
  • Sprint called to gain access to the Dental School Clinic Building roof to install 2 cards for their system.
• The LSUHSC Network Wiring group visited the Dental School campus to determine what was needed to upgrade the network infrastructure in the main buildings.
• U S Filter connected and serviced the soft water system in the Clinic Building basement.

Project to Make Temporary Repairs to 1542 Tulane Ave.:

• The 1542 Tulane Ave. contractor continues to work on the electrical panels, drives, etc. in the basement.
  • They worked on the floats for the new sump pumps to assure proper operation.
  • Additional 4 inch and 3 inch conduit has been run in the basement as they prepare for the delivery and installation of additional switchgear.
• The elevator contractor has continued making repairs to the building elevators.
  • The elevator contractor installed new floor decking in Elevator # 3.
  • They are making other repairs to the cab of Elevator #3 that are required.
• The insulation subcontractor continued insulating the steam and chilled water pipes in the basement.
  • The insulation sub-contractor has insulated some unprotected portions of domestic water lines.
• LSUHSC received some additional repair parts needed in the basement; steam valves, traps, and check valves. Facility Services personnel are responsible for the installation.
• The Siemens personnel were at 1542 Tulane Ave. to prepare to begin the necessary repairs to the building fire alarm.
  • They visited the site checking the locations of existing fire alarm components.
    Miscellaneous:
• The Section 406 Hazard Mitigation proposal for protection of the campus elevators has been forwarded to FEMA by the Hazard Mitigation specialist from the State Public Assistance Office.
• On March 28th there was a short power outage to replace the fuse carriage in the CSRB switchgear. This work is in response to requests from research faculty and the Emergency Situation Response Planning Committee, chaired by Dr. James Cairo, Dean of Allied Health.
  • We have found a way to sustain power for parts of the CSRB, including the majority of the animal care facility, during a Hurricane Evacuation. This will enable the power to remain in these areas should Facility Services personnel be ordered to evacuate the city until such time as the power is severed by Entergy.
  • While our generators will not be able to provide power once Entergy power is severed, this fix buys us additional time for protection of research animals. In addition, should the storm “blow over,” there would be no interruption of power to those spaces.
• A scheduled upgrade to the Medical Education Building switchgear was successfully completed on March 30th. This upgrade relocated vulnerable breakers to a higher location within the existing switchgear. The purpose of this upgrade is to minimize damage and downtime should we ever flood again.
  • LSUHSC Facility Services personnel took advantage of the outage, and documented the emergency power source for the operating equipment for future reference.
• The downtown campus architects prepared a design concept for the replacement of the Medical Education Building roof. The package has been submitted to FEMA for their review and comment.
  • Moisture surveys show that a majority of the roof was damaged which justifies replacement.
  • The old roof utilized a gravel ballast system which probably contributed to glass breakage on the downtown campus. The proposal recommends replacement of the roof with a system that does not utilize any ballast.
  • Actual construction documents are expected to be delivered within the next few weeks.

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