Pentagon Renovation Flies Under the Radar

Atlanta Airport Gateway Marriott, Atlanta — Despite the massive scope of the Pentagon renovation, the success of the project came down to attention to detail. The design-build team customized improvements for more than 800 tenant groups.

Photo courtesy Hensel Phelps Construction

The scope of work was even more daunting than it sounds, explains John Saul, project executive for Hensel Phelps. The Pentagon's more than 800 tenant groups, including both military and civilian, all required custom-designed improvements.

Adding to the complexity was the reality that in an estimated 20% of these instances, due to re-assignments, the tenants that eventually moved into the space were not the ones for which it had been designed. As a result, the team often had to re-design and rebuild the space, all without impacting the schedule.

With a battalion of 700 to 800 craft workers laboring around the clock, delays in moving through the planned progression were not acceptable. “We had to keep that train moving,” Saul says.

Also added to the work was the rebuild of a temporary version of the Pentagon's concourse—the collection of shops, fast food and service centers, such as banks and barber shops—that workers depend upon on a daily basis, again without impacting the schedule.

The team worked hard to keep its work under wraps.

“The thing I take the most pride in is we really tried to be invisible to the tenants from a noise and visibility perspective so the 20,000 people in the building could do their jobs,” Saul says. “We realized we were guests.”

Owner/Developer: Dept. of Defense/Washington Headquarters Service/Pentagon Renovation and Construction Office, Arlington, Va.

Contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Chantilly, Va.

Architect: Shalom Baranes Associates, Washington, D.C.

Civil Engineer: Timmons Group, Richmond, Va.

Structural Engineer: Tadjer Cohen & Edelson, Silver Spring, Md.

MEP Engineer: Southland Industries, Dulles, Va,

Submitted by:

Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

Scott Judy is Deputy Editor for Regions, and editor of ENR Southeast, one of Engineering News-Record's 10 Regional publications. His roughly 27 years as a construction journalist began with an 11-year stint covering Midwest construction projects. In 2000, Judy helped launch the publication now known as ENR Southeast. He often delves into controversial aspects of the construction industry such as bankruptcies and fatal accidents, and wishes he would never have to cover another accident but suspects that he might.