JJ White General Construction

J.J. White Helps Temple University School of Law

Temple University School of Law, Beasley Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Situation

Floor-by-floor renovations were taking place in Beasley Hall, but each intact floor had to continue functioning as usual. In addition to the complete makeover of each office’s floors, walls, ceilings, and lighting, each terminal HVAC unit needed to be overhauled as well.

Challenges

Shutdown and draining of the chilled and hot water systems took several hours to complete, and several more to fill and test. Since the office area needed to remain functional throughout the renovation, a plan that would allow this to happen needed to be implemented.

Solutions

After careful consideration by J.J. White, a plan that included a weekly floor-by-floor shutdown was implemented. Temple personnel shut down and drained both systems beginning in the early evening on Friday. J.J. White would then work through Friday night and into Saturday morning replacing isolation valves, pneumatically-operated 3-way mixing valves, and all associated piping and tubing. On Saturday mornings, Temple would then refill the systems, and J.J. White along with Temple personnel, would vent all coils. J.J. White then tested all work for leaks and, upon verification of success, would proceed to insulate all new and repaired piping and valves. This process took place over two summers for about eight weeks at a time.

Results

Since J.J. White was the General Contractor assigned the daunting task of this renovation, it only made sense for Temple to also use the firm to complete the mechanical scope of the work as well. Single-source accountability has allowed J.J. White to take on and successfully execute all phases of construction projects, while saving clients a great deal of money. All work was completed on-time and on-budget, and all building functions were allowed to continue while work was completed.