To kickoff the renovation of the Democratic National Headquarters building in Washington D.C. last January, representatives from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), owner The Orr Company and DPR Construction eschewed a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony and instead used a sledgehammer to perform a wall demolition. The symbolic gesture of breaking down a wall set the tone from the start on this project in which DPR and the owner have worked together to eliminate any barriers and resolve any issues that stood in the way of a successful completion.

“Your team has taken the ‘let’s solve the problem’ approach to the project as opposed to the papering us to death and issue change orders approach,” commented David Orr, executive vice president of The Orr Company. The owner has also remarked on the cleanliness of the job, an extension of all DPR jobs given its lengthy experience in the semiconductor, biotech and healthcare markets, which often demand high environmental controls.

The DNC Headquarters project involves the demolition and renovation of 58,000 sq. ft. of the existing headquarters building to create a more modern and open-office setting, and the construction of a 7,000-sq.-ft. connecting bridge between the headquarters and the club building next door. The project also includes installation of a new fire protection system and mechanical system upgrades.

As with most renovation projects, DPR has uncovered many unknowns during construction and worked to quickly resolve issues in order to keep the project moving forward. A high level of teamwork has been particularly important given the owner’s need to have the initially two-phased project completed in its entirety by the original phase 1 completion date in early December.

“One of the project’s unique challenges is renovating on the floors above an existing clubhouse, which operates much like a restaurant serving from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and extends beyond normal business hours,” said Ron White of DPR. As a result, the project team has had to carefully coordinate ongoing construction work on the two floors above to avoid disrupting any operations on the first floor that serve the entire building. Thus, much of the work had to be scheduled at night or off hours.

Difficult and unforeseen soil conditions on the site also have presented another key challenge in the construction of the new connector building, requiring the entire foundation design to be changed midstream from footings to a caisson grade beam design.

“All and all it’s been a challenging endeavor, but one where we’ve worked closely together to successfully deliver a quality project,” said White.