At a Glance
After inspecting the University of Arkansas' Pomfret Hall for any asbestos-containing materials (ACMs), Nabholz's environmental team quickly mobilized to abate the large residence hall before renovations began — all while keeping workers, students, and faculty safe from asbestos exposure.
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ASBESTOS ABATEMENT AND SAFETY ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS
When the University of Arkansas hired Nabholz to renovate common areas of Pomfret Hall, Nabholz’s environmental team inspected the building for asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) before construction began. The inspection revealed a significant amount of asbestos requiring extensive abatement work that had to be completed while the building was completely vacant.
However, with planned renovations confined to common areas, the university was counting on keeping its largest residence hall open during construction. This left Nabholz a tight window for completing the hazardous abatement work before 750 students moved in and thousands more students, faculty, and visitors returned to campus in the fall. In just 57 days, the Nabholz team abated more than 57,000 square feet of asbestos-containing materials, a significant portion of which was easily friable, making it especially dangerous.
Working one floor at a time, starting at the top of the eight-story building, the Nabholz team installed critical barriers on each floor, sealed all air vents and entryways, and used negative air machines to bring work areas under negative pressure. Any dust created during abatement was directed to the negative air machine; in turn, the machine filtered the contaminated dust and air through a HEPA filter and directed the filtered air outside.
Once all safety measures were in place on a floor, the team began scraping the ceiling and removing floor tile and mastic before completing a final detail clean. The hazardous debris was then securely bagged and carefully removed from the site using proper safety procedures to prevent any contamination.
As with many older buildings, Pomfret Hall presented surprises and challenges along the way. First, the elevator and stairs were too small for the floor tile machine, so the crew had to remove all 54,000 square feet of floor tile and mastic by hand. During that process, the team discovered approximately 350 linear feet of asbestos-containing pipe insulation running up all eight floors. After notifying university officials and getting approval for the additional work, the team made quick work of removing the newly identified ACM.
Through careful coordination and planning, Nabholz safely and successfully completed this large-scale asbestos abatement project in less than two months – ahead of schedule – allowing construction work to begin without any delay to the overall project schedule.
In total, the Nabholz team abated:
- 54,000+ SF of floor tile and mastic
- 3,000+ SF of plaster ceiling
- 350 LF of pipe insulation
