The project, built on the site of the previous assembly building, has contemporary spaces that conserve the original facade. The team restored Pegasus carvings, did cornice repair work and reset Juliet balcony barriers fused with new structures. A bracing tower safeguarded the historic facade while it was detached. Seismographs monitored delicate limestone during demolition. Erecting the bracing tower involved placing 370 tons of steel columns, beams, outriggers and whalers and drilling and pouring of 3-ft-dia concrete caissons descending 60 ft below the site.

Gilbane’s safety competition awarded a wrestling belt for a safe worker. The team had no lost-time accidents during more than 1.77 million trade hours. Gilbane conducted 1,679 internal safety inspections and mandated full-time involvement of safety professionals in critical trades. These specialists led focused safety walks—offering guidance and mentoring to younger safety professionals and trade management teams. In-house certified drone pilots documented hard-to-access places, such as elevator shafts and exterior precast and caulking installations. That allowed workers to maintain safe working distances instead of being suspended or tied off on platforms or lifts.

Photo by Jim Sink Photography

Designed for state senators, other legislators and support staff, the building includes the House committee room with stadium-style seats, a second-floor committee room and subcommittee rooms. Due to staging limitations, the team had to settle on a single tower crane and mobile cranes for the duration of construction. But these limitations were overcome as the project served as a test bed for new technologies, including the CraneView crane sensor package from Versatile.

Versatile’s below-the-hook crane sensor previously has been deployed on other projects, but the General Assembly Building was one of the first major projects to use it from start to finish.

The building also integrates two underground tunnels. One connects to a new garage; the other provides a direct link to the Capitol Building. There are also committee rooms, a press room, multipurpose spaces, dining areas and gathering spaces. The $226-million project was completed in six years, at budget and on schedule.

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