CIR RENOVATES NIAGARA FALLS LANDMARK

Completed: September 2002
Owner: NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
Construction Manager: Ciminelli-Cowper Co, Inc.
Location: Niagara Falls, NY

Institutional

CIR was the electrical contractor for the reconstruction of the Niagara Falls Observation Tower. CIR was responsible for all of the electrical work including, but not limited to, conduit & wiring, lighting, and fire alarm. The very unique element of this project was the installation of new fiberglass conduit.

The original specification for this project called for ten runs of 4" and three runs of 2" PVC coated steel conduit, 300' long for the main feeders and telephone cables. Even though this was the perfect application for fiberglass conduit, original engineering specifications were firm. However, it was later discovered that another key structural factor had not been considered. This factor was how much weight would be added to the observation deck's structure by specifying PVC coated rigid conduit.

To put this into perspective: PVC coated steel conduit weighs approximately 10 times more than fiberglass conduit. For this installation, the PVC coated steel conduit would have tipped the scale at 33,222 lbs vs. only 2,700 lbs for fiberglass conduit!