5 Western Avenue - Revitalization

OVERVIEW

The building at 5 Western Avenue was constructed in 1931 to house the City of Cambridge's police headquarters, which was housed there until the opening of the City's new police headquarters in 2008. This building is a historic structure and is on both the State and the National Registry of Historic Buildings.

The City hired W.T. Rich Company as its Construction Manager to renovate and restore the building for use by the City as administrative office space. The project consisted of comprehensive abatement of extensive hazardous material and complete demolition of interior finishes and elements down to the building's structural core. The scope of work included completely new windows, roofing, MEP systems, skylights, staircases, partitions and architectural finishes. The project included extensive structural modifications and reinforcement work for new openings and a new mezzanine level at the fourth floor. The new roof included complete replacement of the existing sloped copper roof.

The project involved a highly collaborative effort between the CM, design team and owner throughout preconstruction and construction. W.T. Rich Company worked in partnership with the Owner and design team, assuming a leadership role in contributing to the design, interpreting construction documents, responding to RFI's, providing sketches and supplemental instructions to subcontractors, collaborating with the engineers on the project, and advising the Owner on various issues throughout the process.