Meeting the Deadline
In media, the deadline is king and the deadline for this project was no exception. Providing construction management services for the integration of the WTIC Fox 61 Broadcast Studio into the existing Courant Newspaper facility in Hartford, our staff worked closely with client and design team to create a schedule that allowed the construction to be safely completed while the building remained occupied and functioning around the clock. Our staff understood that any downtime would result in a loss of revenue; therefore, the schedule called for phased construction to get the job done.
With all team members understanding the need for accuracy, as well as speed, the job began. Staff worked in the late afternoons and evenings when the press room activity had begun to wane and the fewest employees would be impacted. In addition, our staff practiced good housekeeping methods, including carefully draping construction areas and scheduling “noise hours” so to not disturb those working overnight.
Building State-of-the-Art Studio Space
Building out a 40,000sf state-of-the-art broadcast studio, data center and newsroom required additional mechanical and electrical upgrades. This included coordinating construction with building maintenance as well as Tribune staff. Deliveries of sensitive mechanical and electrical equipment and scheduled shutdowns for tie-ins to existing systems were key to maintaining the project schedule.
These facilities will be utilized 24/7/365, making reliability paramount. Redundant systems for power and HVAC were built to support both the studio and data center. Where RF transmissions and communications were required, regulatory and interoperability issues were tackled.
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