Rikers Island Emergency Declaration Project -

Rikers Island, Queens

After an alarming rise in self-harm and injury among detainees on Rikers Is-land, the Mayor of New York issued an Emergency Executive Order declaring a state of emergency for the City’s 413-acre island detention complex. The Emergency Order synchronized a design and delivery team of Urbahn Archi-tecture, Padilla Construction Services, and Armand Corporation as the Con-struction Manager in a rapid response execution of an urgently needed, multi-building rehabilitation program. The work program concentrated on four primary scopes of work in various complex areas.

The original scope of work included the following buildings:

• The Rose M. Singer Center is a 16-building detainee housing unit being converted into an All-Male facility. Scopes of work included sewer line reconstruction, renovation of cells and day rooms, installation of new plumbing and anti-ligature fixtures, and designing and fabricating HVAC equipment.
• The work of the George R. Vierno Center involvedrenovating a 48-bedroom housing unit and converting another housing unit into a Program and Training Center, including a recording studio, computer lab, bicycle repair shop, classrooms, horticulture, and a driving simulator. The scope of work included sewer line reconstruction, installation of new plumbing and an-ti-ligature fixtures, and designing and fabricating HVAC equipment.
• At the North Infirmary Command, the work entailed structural remedia-tion and rehabilitation, including HVAC, new roof, plumbing, electrical, and shower facilities in various dorms. The office locker room renovation included lockers, floors, walls, HVAC, toilet facilities, and plumbing.
• For the Anna M. Kross Center, the work program involved similar officer locker room improvements, including lockers, floors, walls, HVAC, toilet facilities, and plumbing.

Primary among the challenges of this work was the expedited schedule for a massive rehabilitation program in a hyper-secure facility. Under normal building conditions, executing the $125 million scope of work might take two to three years. This emergency services contract extended the work schedule to just 11 months. Armand maintained a continual onsite presence through-out construction, staffing the project with construction professionals who understand how to dissect problems to find solutions. Given the post-COVID building market and supply chain pressures of 2022, virtually all the required HVAC equipment, many of the plumbing components, and other building materials became long-lead items within the critical path. Armand helped the procurement process by identifying secondary resource markets, seg-menting purchase orders among multiple vendors, and closely tracking material quantities and needs.

Unique among processes, Urbahn Architecture joined the project for this emergency services contract at the same time Armand and the general con-tractor did. This meant that Urbahn Architecture had to develop the design documentation required to build the work in essentially what became a de-sign-as-you-go process. The need to have permittable plans compelled the team to maintain daily project briefings via virtual meetings to discuss the day’s issues, the previous day’s resolutions, and the following day’s needs. Armand took a leadership role in project support by working with all team members to understand their challenges and support whatever deficiency may exist to keep the project moving forward as quickly and safely as possible.

The North Infirmary Command building had to be demolished due to the condition of the building and a new metal prefabricated building was erected in its place.

The NIC Mod building was approximately 1,200 square feet. The building was to be used for the infirmary, office, and lockers for the Warden and Officers. The construction of the NIC Mod was fast paced, like the rest of the Rikers Emergency Project; as the new structure was expected to be completed in a few months. Armand was able to reach substantial completion in four months and final completion in five and a half months. Delays were encountered due to supply chain issues with lighting fixtures, fire alarm equipment, and HVAC units.

The following is a summary of the construction phase for the NIC building:

• Demolition – The existing building had to be demolished and debris removed. This was done with an excavating machine and handheld equipment. Debris was hauled off-site.
• Excavation – The excavation was done with large excavators. Excavated material was hauled off-site.
• Form work, Concrete reinforcement, and concrete were placed for footings and foundation walls.
• Steel beams were placed for the floor, followed by flooring panels and framing for the walls and roof.
• Waterproofing and insulation were placed on the foundation walls. Backfilling was done with excavated materials around the foundation walls and interior piers. Compaction was done with a Jumping Jack and Vibratory Roller.
• Insulation was placed on the walls after the building walls, windows, doors, and roof were completed. Interior walls were closed after rough-in for plumbing, electrical, HVAC, fire alarm, and other utilities were completed.
• The interior finish: painting, tile in bathrooms, VCT on the floor, Lighting fixtures, and fire alarm devices.
• The exterior finish on walls was metal panels on the walls, concrete sidewalks, and landscape areas.
• Coordination – A major aspect of this project involves coordination with the Warden and Correction Officers to gain access to the adjoining occupied building and yard with inmates and officers. We encountered delays during construction to access areas to work. However, the building was completed in a short time even with all the issues encountered.

Continuing with a winning team …. Armand Corporation is an NYS-certified M/WBE construction management firm, and as such, we have a strong conviction to support our fellow M/WBE and SDVOB firms.

94% of the contract value was awarded to M/WBE firms on the Rikers Island project. Of the twenty-one (21) subcontrac-tors, fourteen (14) were MWBE firms. Sixty-four percent (64%) of the total subcontract value was awarded to M/WBE firms. In addition, there were three (3) prime contractors/consultants, and two (2) were MWBE firms. The total M/WBE contract value for those sixteen (16) firms brought the awarded contract value to 94% (or approximately $235M).