Boston – Tishman Construction Corporation of Massachusetts (TCC-MA) is nearing completion of the intricate process of providing Verizon Communications, Inc. with its own dedicated systems infrastructure for network communications equipment within the historic 18-story New England Telephone & Telegraph Building at 185 Franklin Street in Boston’s financial district. Simultaneously, Tishman is renovating more than 200,000sf of office and administrative space on four floors of the building.
Tishman Construction’s personnel, working in the Art Deco landmark – built in 1947 and in the process of being listed on the National Register of Historic Places – are separating Verizon Communications’ mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems from those that serve the overall building, in order to give Verizon its own dedicated systems on floors that house its office spaces and its network communication equipment.
This is critically important to Verizon since it requires uninterruptible 24/7 service every day of the year for its operations.
Tishman’s overall services work include conceptual budgeting and schedule analysis, materials evaluations, phasing studies, comprehensive value engineering services, project buy-out, and complete construction management during the construction phase.
Tishman is working on the project with architects Visnick & Caufield Associates, Perkins & Will, and Juniper Russell & Associates, as well as consulting engineer WB Engineers.
Sullivan & McLaughlin Companies is performing the electrical work and fire alarm upgrades.
The New England Telephone & Telegraph Building rises 298 feet, overlooking Post Office Square Park. This is one of the busiest areas of Boston, with heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic that make the logistics of delivery and storage of construction materials an on-going challenge.
Tishman personnel managed deliveries on precise schedules and accommodated pedestrian access around the building to minimize inconvenience.
Another challenge is working over live telecom space. This meant that Tishman project managers had to coordinate the protection of Verizon switchgear and huge telephone switchgear batteries, which had to be wrapped in heavy plastic, but only for a short time or the batteries would overheat. To accommodate these procedures, Tishman built scaffolding out of wood (instead of metal scaffolding which could arc with the batteries) over the entire work area.
An additional challenge for Tishman was that the work had to be done within a fully functional office building. To accomplish this, the Tishman team coordinated two construction shifts, day and night, to avoid affecting the other building tenants and to work in network areas during low-volume time of the day. Verizon calls this “safe time”.
The project’s scope of work also includes the installation of two 1-megawatt generators on the roof, a 350-ton cooling tower, 7 new air handling units, and vast amounts of infrastructure to support the new systems. The roof had to reinforced in order to support the additional weight.
Timothy McGonigle, VSO Real Estate – Design and Construction, Verizon Massachusetts, Inc., said of the project: “Tishman has coordinated with us and with the multiple tenants in the building judiciously so that the project is completed without disrupting power or the work of tenants in this fully functional, occupied building.”
Tom Erickson, Executive V.P. of TCC-MA, adds: “Careful planning and coordination with Verizon, the City of Boston, and the many tenants in the building is the key to completing this fast-paced technology infrastructure and tenant improvement project. We are paying special attention to the historical significance of this famous building during our work there. Moreover, we’re very pleased that Verizon has selected us once again to execute an important high-tech project.”
Other work in the building includes:
* Interior building alterations on the first, second, third, fourth floors and 14th floor roof to build-out HVAC and electrical infrastructure to provide ownership separation to isolate VZ space from the rest of the building.
* New air-handling units on floors one, two, three and four and an associated ductwork distribution system, and DDC controls to serve existing and future Verizon equipment, with ventilation for battery areas.
* New fuel pumps in the basement with supply and return piping to the 14th floor generator modules.