2050 M St.

Project Description

2050 M St. is an 338,000-sf. office building located near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. with a glass curtain wall to reduce sunlight obstruction to adjacent buildings. The building consists of a four-story below ground parking garage and 11 stories above ground, which includes a fitness center on the ground level.

The design and layout of the building was constructed to offer tenants a warm and modern feeling to their office space. 2050 also furnishes a 11^th rooftop terrace, including a rooftop lounge with panoramic views over Dupont and Washington Circle.

Mallick Mechanical Contractors installed a chilled water system – with a loop on each floor to circulate the chilled water throughout the building – and a set of condenser water risers with future-use connections. The building’s central plant was located on parking levels three and four and consisted of three chillers, three heat exchangers and eleven pumps. A direct outside air handler, which provided conditioned air to each floor, and four cooling towers were placed on the roof.

2050 was also outfitted with some green infrastructure characteristics. The building was given a rainwater harvesting system, which recycled rain as make-up water for the cooling towers and the condenser water system. The system will not only reuse the rainwater, but it will also protect local watersheds, including the Potomac River just over a mile away and the Chesapeake Bay, from storm-water runoff contaminated with pollutants, oil, garbage and other harmful debris.

STRATEGIES

Due to the project’s location and tight schedule, coordination was crucial to this project’s success. Mallick Mechanical prefabrication team assisted in pushing the project progress ahead of schedule by fabricating mechanical piping and bathroom rough-ins. The team also had no lay down area and had to efficiently create a comprehensive plan for usage of the tower crane with James G. Davis Construction and other jobsite coworkers to properly rig and place equipment and material.

Through advanced and strategic planning, Mallick Mechanical was able to execute on a narrow schedule of roughing in, connecting and testing three floors in a span of three weeks. The team staggered crews with proper personnel selections and experienced leaders to meet the job’s schedule and exceed the customer’s expectations.

CHALLENGES

Mallick Mechanical was faced with challenges early into the Dupont Circle project due to the tight project and concrete schedule. Instead of installing the underground sanitary and storm piping in succession, Mallick Mechanical was required to jump from pour to pour. Elevations had to be shot so all the piping would properly line up and then our team could return to connect them.

This method put an additional amount of emphasis on the installation, but Mallick Mechanical’s detail-oriented team was able to successfully install the underground piping with no delays or alterations.

One of the biggest mechanical challenges Mallick Mechanical was faced with involved the 16” mechanical risers, which began on the lowest level of parking and climbed to the penthouse.

With the piping being installed in an open shaft, Mallick Mechanical needed to design and install a way for the risers to be supported as it ascended up the building.

To combat this, spring isolators and steel supports were equipped by our prefabrication team, keeping the project ahead of schedule and lightening the assembly time for field personnel. The spring isolators and steel supports allow the pipes to expand and contract with minimal change, while also keeping noise minimized, which is one of the most common annoyances of risers from tenants.

The biggest challenge regarding the mechanical room involved setting the three chillers. Each chiller, which weighed approximately 17,000 lbs., had to be set but size restrictions denied entry through the below ground parking garage.

Instead, each one was individual rigged and slowly dropped down 5 floors through an elevator shaft. Each chiller barely fit into the shaft and required spotters on each floor to communicate their angle to the rest of the rigging team. After they were lowered, the chillers were skated over to their final destination and installed.

With approximately 51,000 lbs. of equipment needing to be rigged and set, Mallick Mechanical relied on their direct and clear communication with one another and the rest of the appropriate parties. Due to this, Mallick Mechanical was able to overcome one of the critical phases of the job and advance the project’s schedule.

TESTIMONIAL

“Overall Mallick performed well on 2050 M Street. Their office and field staff were both responsive and cooperative.”

Andrew Pino, Preconstruction Manager, James G. Davis Construction