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OKLAHOMA CITY – It took three years and $1.5 million to build Oklahoma’s Capitol building a century ago. It will take at least six years and as much as $245 million to prepare the building for its next 100 years.

Plans and design work to repair and renovate the 452,000-square-foot building are almost complete. Beginning this summer, workers in hardhats will be as common in and around the historic building as lawmakers in suits and tourists in sportswear as work starts on an extensive project to restore and update the structure.

Work is scheduled to begin on the building’s exterior in July and the interior in September.

Trait Thompson, the Capitol project manager for the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, says the project will involve every square inch of the building.
Worked is scheduled to begin this summer to repair and renovate Oklahoma’s historic Capitol building. Details of the project:

COST: Estimated at $245 million; $120 million in bonds authorized by Oklahoma Legislature and another $125 million bond issue pending.

DURATION: Exterior work to begin in July and taken an estimated 3.5 years; interior work to begin in September and take an estimated six years.

EXTERIOR REPAIRS

  • Eleven levels of scaffolding to be erected.
  • Repair 21 miles of mortar joints.
  • Repair 240 cracked or damaged stones.
  • Restore 477 windows.
  • Restore 43,000 pounds of cast iron.
  • Expand exterior loading dock
  • Replace exterior doors
  • Partial roof replacement
  • Repair exterior stairs, plazas, sidewalks and battlements.
  • Repair east tunnel

INTERIOR REPAIRS

  • Replace 3,600 linear feet of plumbing piping.
  • Replace 4.55 miles of heating, ventilation and air conditioning piping.
  • Replace 13,500 of ductwork.
  • Remove 460 tons of hazardous asbestos-containing material.
  • Remove 65 miles of abandoned cabling.
  • Add 420 tons of cooling to provide air conditioning to the Capitol rotunda.
  • Add natural gas service to power new emergency generators.
  • Add of a new visitor entrance on the southeast corner of the building.
  • Replace and enhance fire alarms and add fire suppression systems.
  • Add stairwells at dead end corridors to address fire code issues and improve vertical access.