Thursday, 15 December 2011 17:03

By Christopher M. Riggs

The company working on the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception renovation proved it can tear things down, now they are proving they can put things back together.

Devin Carter, superintendent with Simpson & Associates, said last week that the sanctuary and transept floors have been removed in the Cathedral and that footings for the new altar, the stairs, and ramps have been poured. He added that stem walls that will support the sanctuary floor would soon be poured.

Workers are or will soon be crawling around in the attic of the Cathedral to rewire lights for the ceiling, he said, adding that lights will be installed in the next few weeks.

Much of the activity in the Cathedral in the next month will be in the altar and apse area where the radial steps will be formed, Carter said. In another month workers will install steel to support columns for the expanded choir balcony.

The tunnels connecting the Cathedral to the basement of the gathering space for heating and air-conditioning are completed and waterproofed, he said. Holes were recently cut for ductwork.

In the area that will become the gathering space, just east of the Cathedral, Carter said spread footings and stem walls are being poured for the southern half of the space that will connect the Cathedral to Good Shepherd Hall (the former gym) and St. Joseph Pastoral Center.

Floor medallions are being installed in Good Shepherd Hall, which is serving as a temporary Mass venue for the Cathedral. The restrooms on the south side of second floor are also finished.

Carter said crews are working on the windows of St. Joseph Pastoral Center. Glass was installed on the third floor windows last week. First floor windows were being glazed this week. In addition, workers were to have begun pouring footings for an elevator that will be located at the east entrance of the pastoral center.

Some of the work in the pastoral center has slowed as engineers decide how to reinforce some of the walls in that building.

In about two months scaffolding will be erected under the central dome of the cathedral and in the east and west transepts for lighting and sprinkler system installation.

Artistic painters may be able to begin working inside the church as soon as March.