Carter Bros. completes Swissotel project in Chicago
By Martha Entwistle
Updated Fri January 1, 2010
CHIGAGO--Careful coordination was vital for Carter Brothers' Edwards Service Division during a recently completed year-long retrofit project at the Swissotel here in downtown Chicago.
"It was the replacement of the existing fire system and we completed it while the hotel was occupied," said Pat Hallet, director of business development for Carter Brothers. "At no time were they on fire watch."
The project included the installation of a fire system in a newly constructed 100,000-square-foot event space.
As contractors renovated several floors of rooms, Carter Brothers' team worked in concert with the other [contractors] to install the GE Security EST fire alarm system, which includes a voice evacuation system. "It took a lot of planning and project management to make it go off so well," Hallet said.
Carter Brothers kept the existing systems working, and took the EST system live in stages.
"We built a temporary wall in the lobby for our panel, so both panels were in the same location. At the end of the job, we demo'ed the [legacy] panel and moved ours into location."
One of the obstacles in doing this job was the hotel provides rooms to airline pilots, who come in at varying hours. "We had to be very careful about which floor we were working on at certain times and work closely with the hotel [to figure that out]," Hallet said.
The hospitality industry is a specialty of Carter Brothers. The company is currently working on projects for two major hotels in Manhattan, the W and Novotel.
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