Dynalectric meant business when it promised an on-time delivery of its work on a new administrative and operations center for Intelsat, a leading satellite services provider.
Despite an eight-week interruption while awaiting local life safety system permits to complete above-ceiling work, Dynalectric completed the project on schedule in just 26 weeks.
For its outstanding work, Dynalectric won the Award of Merit for Interior/Tenant Improvement (systems infrastructure/tenant improvement) from Engineering News-Record MidAtlantic.
This full-scale electrical contracting company in Dulles, Va., provides pre-construction services through final and post-project completion. For its work on this new 181,000 square-foot high-rise building in McLean, Va., Dynalectric helped install multiple specialized mechanical and electrical systems that support Intelsat’s satellite launches and operations.
The work included these systems:
- A 700-kVA generator located on the second level of the garage and linked to the Intelsat data center by more than 2,400 linear feet of 4-inch supplemental power electrical metallic tubing.
- A six-module, 180-ton, roof-mounted multi-stack chiller.
- More than 35 individual supplemental cooling units.
- New 480-V switchgear.
- A standalone building management control system.
In addition, Dynalectric helped build a “vertical campus” that linked collaboration and private spaces on every floor to create a balanced work environment. The spaces are tied together by a six-level ornamental stair system. Best of all, an 80-foot feature wall includes panels with an integrated LED slim-line linear light strip that mimics the tracing lights of a night sky.
The challenge? All systems were designed while the building was still under construction. That required Dynalectric to do all coordination virtually, using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. Undaunted, they got right to work.
“At Dynalectric, we know exactly what’s required to build a successful system, so planning it during construction was just a matter of when to fit each piece into the puzzle,” said Dynalectric Chief Operations Officer Paul E. Mella. “By rearranging our typical workflow and timing the arrival of materials, we were able to give them a speedy delivery.”
Dynalectric arranged all deliveries and installed equipment and supplemental infrastructure in just 16 weeks so that commissioning and testing could be completed quickly. As a result, Intelsat was able to manage launches on site from Day 1.
“To be able to manage satellites in orbit, Intelsat has highly sophisticated requirements. We were pleased to provide the on-the-ground control to make sure they have everything they need to communicate with outer space.”
