Main Treasury Building Renovation

Owner

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Location

Washington, DC

The project was completed in four phases over a period of five years. The major electrical items included three new 13.8kv lineups, three 1500kw network transformers, low voltage draw-out switchgear lineups, and motor control centers, in addition to the building’s generator and associated transfer switches.  A duct bank had to be installed around the building to reach the generator vault. A utility upgrade portion included the building of a mechanical room and the installation and connection of a motor control center and two chillers.

Because of the historical nature of the building, the process of getting all the equipment into position was a monumental task.  In some cases, holes had to be cut in the side of the building just to get the equipment inside.  The ceilings throughout the building were solid, so lighting feeds on each level had to be run in the floor space of the level above.  Some vault areas had 70-inch thick concrete walls that had to be coredrilled, and still others had 6-inch steel walls.

The building was occupied and in full use throughout the construction phases.  Therefore, keeping constant power to the building was critical.  There were some portions of the building where a loss of power could potentially cost billions of dollars per hour.  We are especially proud that over the course of the full five year project, we never had an unscheduled outage or otherwise disrupted the tenant.

SECO won a 2001 WBC Craftsmanship award for Power Distribution on this project.