Pittsburgh Federal Courthouse & U.S. Post Office, PITTSBURGH, PA

VALUE DELIVERED

With highly trained service professionals and leading-edge building system solutions, EMCOR Services Scalise Industries was selected as the company of choice to perform the interior and exterior renovations of the Federal Courthouse Building and U.S. Post Office located in downtown Pittsburgh.

CLIENT OBJECTIVES

The 1934 U.S. Post Office and Federal Courthouse wanted to modernize the historic structure to accommodate state of the art facilities for the Post Office and courtrooms. Because the 820,000 s.f. building was fully occupied during the construction period, it was a top priority of the client to provide a consistently comfortable, safe environment for all customers and staff. Scalise’s team worked to create and maintain constant heating and cooling requirements, while minimizing noise throughout the building in the occupied areas.

SOLUTIONS

Scalise Industries’ scope of work included both mechanical and plumbing upgrades to the interior and exterior building structure. Mechanical installations included: new duct work, valves, and a new piping system for heating and cooling, installing 20 new air handling units, 2 new roof top chillers, and a Variable Air Volume system with multiple VAV Boxes on each floor. Plumbing installations included: new fixtures, faucets, sinks, drains, and related piping, including water and waste lines, waste venting, and rooftop or wall pipe flashing, exterior water valves, and future washer roughs. With these renovations, the client will experience cost savings from the reduction in energy consumption, and will also have much higher equipment reliability.

BACKGROUND

The Pittsburgh Federal Courthouse and U.S. Post Office is a 13-story, 832,000 s.f. structure, with 10 floors of offices and courtrooms. It was completed and opened to the public in 1934. It occupies an entire city block bounded by Grant and Second Streets to the south and west, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Station and Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, to the north and east. At the sixth floor, the shape of the building changes and becomes an “E” to accommodate the original ceremonial courtrooms, which occupy the flanges of the “E” shape. Throughout the years, the building has undergone several restorations and interior alternations. Six new courtrooms were added in the rear of the building above the existing post-office loading docks, and a new two-story lobby entrance, which is located off Grant Street. In 1995, the building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.