St. John’s College Randall Hall Sprinkler & Servery Renovations

Overview:

Randall Hall was constructed in 1903 to house the dining hall, kitchen, and dormitory rooms. The building was not equipped with a fire suppression system or a fire alarm system. Our original project scope was to complete a design build project to add sprinkler and fire alarm to the entire building.

Working with St. Johns College, A.R. Marani contracted with an architectural firm to create current architectural drawings for permit, hired a fire protection engineering firm to create job project specifications, and design a complete building fire protection system for Randall Hall while minimizing the impact to the historic nature of the building. A fire suppression contractor was employed to submit the sprinkler and fire alarm drawings for permit, and both systems were installed and completed summer of 2020. A wet system is used on the first three floors and a dry system is used in the unheated attic. A.R. Marani coordinated with the St. John’s College utility contractor to bring a new water line to the building to supply the fire suppression system. Additionally, a new fire hydrant was installed at the same time near the building to meet current codes.

Servery Renovation – A.R. Marani renovated the Servery area at Randall Hall, which included the complete demolition of the existing Servery, installation of electrical panels and wiring, modification to the supply and waste plumbing, patching the existing plaster walls, painting, installing new ceiling bulkheads, installing new tile and new ceramic tile flooring, ACT ceilings, serving casework, and kitchen equipment. ARM assisted the college and the architect in obtaining Health Department certification of the renovated Servery.

RTU replacement – The existing RTU serving for the Servery, beverage area, lobby, and private dining room in the building had previously failed. A.R. Marani employed a mechanical contracting firm to engineer and install a new heating/cooling system. Additionally, ARM updated the basement kitchen area to conform to current building codes.

Treasurer’s Office renovation – A.R. Marani renovated the ground floor office of the Treasurer. The renovation included demolition of the one-time exterior brick wall of the building. ARM contracted with an engineering firm to design structural support steel to carry the loads of the three floors above the demolished wall.

IT Office waterproofing – During the course of installing the sprinkler system, it was found that one the exterior walls in the IT office had moisture seeping through the original 1908 brick wall. A.R. Marani consulted with a water proofing contractor to find a suitable product, which could be applied to the interior of the brick walls to stop the moisture penetration. This alleviated the need to follow the traditional path of excavating outside the building and applying a waterproofing membrane to the exterior of the building foundation wall.