Cannon House Office Building begins $752M renovation

Congress this month is beginning a 10-year, $752.7 million renovation project on the Cannon House Office Building that will include replacing all of the pipes and plumbing, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The construction is in its first phase now as workers prepare to update plumbing, heating and cooling, preparing for bigger fixes beginning in 2017, when contractors will shut down a wing of the building at a time to fix the marble facade and repair systems that have broken down.

The century-old building is plagued by safety, health, environmental and operational issues that are rapidly worsening, said Bill Weidemeyer, superintendent of the House. Many of the buildings systems are original from the 1908 construction.

Cannon is one of three office buildings to the south of the Capitol itself, and it houses about 140 members of the House. The buildings failings have become grist for social media, with one particularly infamous online video showing staffers collecting buckets of water pouring out of a wall.

Some systems in the building are so old that replacement parts arent available, and workers have needed to build custom parts, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

The construction will be going on at the same time as workers are repairing the dome on the Capitol a project thats projected to last through 2016. The domes exterior is currently covered by scaffolding, while the interior has a protective cushion around the inside of the dome.

The Cannon buildings exterior is also in need of work. Large pieces of the decorative stone around the roof began falling off with such frequency that workers installed netting last year to make sure no one was hurt, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

Restoring the dome is expected to cost $60 million, but the Cannon refurbishment is projected to be $752.7 million. By comparison, the entire underground Capitol Visitor Center complex was built for $621 million.

At 826,465 square feet, the House office building will cost more than $900 per square foot to renovate.

Only about $100 million of the Cannon restoration funds have been appropriated by Congress so far.

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Cannon House Office Building begins $752M renovation