Dartmouth College Vail & Remsen Buildings

Nature of Work: Laboratory renovations within an occupied space 
 
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire
 
The Vail-Remsen complex comprises two buildings at the core of the Dartmouth Medical School campus to the north of Dartmouth College. Trumbull-Nelson managed an extensive renovation, undertaken to accommodate the needs of new researchers and technological advances. The entire 1st and 2nd floors, along with half of the 5th and 8th floors were demolished, leaving only the building’s shell intact. New systems and finishes were provided in these areas.
 
Challenges were primarily related to the coordination of new mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems and the maintenance of existing systems within an occupied building. 
 
The structural component of the building was cast-in-place concrete floor systems with load-bearing masonry walls; this required thorough structural review of all penetrations. Coordination drawings required extensive survey of all MEP systems to allow new work to be integrated with the existing systems. Weekly coordination meetings were necessary throughout the first half of the project. Through sequencing and scheduling of shut-downs and interruptions, T-N maintained full operation of the MEP systems in this 8-story building.