Building Project Details

First Unitarian's Building Renovation Team (BRT) has been very busy finalizing plans to get the renovation underway. We hired an owner's representative, Randy Copeland, to help us with the final preparations and to act as liaison between the church and the construction contractor. Randy came on board in March and has been invaluable. He has worked extensively with the BRT, our architect, Eidos, and our general contractor, JHL. We're getting close!

Renovation Plan Updates

You may notice, if you look at the construction drawings hanging in the Community Room, that some aspects of the plans we started with back in June 2016 have changed. This is normal and to be expected! A couple of examples of things that have changed: the sanctuary now has just one ramp to the pulpit area, on the east wall (right side as you face the organ pipes); the bathroom entrance has moved to the hallway on the east wall by the alley exit (and the bathrooms are fully gender-neutral!). 

Some of the more major changes, and the reasoning behind those changes, are outlined below.
​Air Conditioning
We have decided to move from evaporative cooling to air conditioning for our cooling system. The reason for this decision is based on the physical constraints of our building. Our current evaporative cooling system can cool only half of the building at a time.  Under current code, if we install a new evaporative cooling system it must be sized to cool the entire building, which would require a unit twice the size of our current unit. We do not have the space for a system that size.  Air conditioning will enable us to improve comfort for building users and cool the entire building at one time, which is more consistent with the number and variety of current users. Any increase in electricity usage should be offset by more efficient lighting and heating systems that will be installed during the renovation.

Exterior Ramp
After additional review of the exterior ramp, we have determined that the best approach is to rebuild the ramp in its current location. This allows us to stay within our current fundraising budget and maintain accessibility to the building. The newly reconstructed ramp will be a visual improvement, will incorporate additional safety features, and is anticipated to have a life of 25-30 years.
​Sprinklers
After code review and discussions with the City of Denver, our architects determined that a sprinkler system for the basement is not required. They also found that if we chose to install a system voluntarily, we would trigger compliance with other provisions of the building code that would add significant cost to the project. Our new basement configuration improves ingress and egress and our staff has plans in place to increase fire safety and training, including implementation of periodic fire drills. Given the improved safety of the new design and our safety planning, we feel comfortable choosing not to install sprinklers at this time.

Your Building Renovation Team

Randy Copeland, Owner's Representative
Kathy Cranmer, Chair
Michael Koch
Dan Johnson
Helen Berkman
​Steve Smithers
Tim Robertson
​Marty Dawley