Marble Columns Required Protection from the Poly, Spray Glue, & Duct Tape.

This article in the New York Times regarding “Judge Stops Changes to Manufacturers Trust Company Building” brought back some memories for me.  Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company (MHT) was one of Future Environment Design’s first and largest clients.  Over the time we worked with MHT we removed alot of asbestos containing materials, including troweled-on amosite asbestos containing reflectance material on the first and second floors of 510 Fifth Avenue, New York.  This building was the location of our most profitable and successful projects.  We actually discuss this project in our initial asbestos project designer classes (reviewing the original asbestos drawings and discussing problems with amosite asbestos and negative air units).  MHT wanted to perform an energy efficient upgrade to reduce the amount of electricity they were using to light the first and second floor 510 Fifth Avenue.  In addition, New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee had landmarked the building, so the general contractor (Adelhardt Construction Corp.) had to figure out how to maintain the appearance while also saving electricity.  Under that landmark interior was troweled-on amosite asbestos containing reflectance material.  As the asbestos consultant for MHT, we designed the asbestos removal portion of the project.  The entire project ended with an extremely happy client that had a payback period of 1-2 years and the project came in under budget by at least 1 million dollars.