Georgetown Car Barn

Project Description

Douglas Development recently re-signed Georgetown University to a long term lease of the historic Car Barn building. As part of the lease agreement Douglas was required to update the existing mechanical system as well as core bathrooms. Mallick worked at first to create an as-built drawing of the existing Mechanical Piping system. This as-built was then used by the design team to create a new upsized piping system to better handle the building loads.

The building is served by a condenser water system inclusive of a closed loop, open loop, and loop injection heating water. Over 80 Water Source Heat Pumps feed the different spaces throughout the building and an Outside Air Unit delivers fresh air throughout the Building. Construction also included the renovation of main restrooms on each floor – inclusive of new rough-ins and fixtures.

One of the largest challenges (among many) was the delivery of the system upgrades in a totally occupied building with very little allowable down time. Mallick crews worked on the occupied floors at night to install the new piping system parallel to the existing. Over winter break the existing central plant was demolished and new equipment and piping installed. The installation of the new Cooling Tower was also a challenge. There existed very few options regarding the rigging of the new Tower. The closer option on M Street avoided the residential neighborhoods but ultimately became untenable due to the volume of traffic along M Street. Ultimately the rig needed to happen from Prospect St. in the midst of a residential neighborhood. The renovation of the restrooms also presented a challenge as much of the piping in the walls was connected to piping serving fixtures in the tenant spaces that were not isolated. Mallick documented the conditions and developed a plan to shut down and reroute the tenant fixtures so they were not affected by the bathroom shutdown.

Despite the numerous challenges associated with an occupied renovation of a building that has had multiple contractors, owners, and tenants Mallick Mechanical completed the scope of work on time and under budget.