MONTGOMERY — Construction crews are now focused largely on the interior of Alabama’s new State House as lawmakers and staff prepare to begin moving into the facility later this year.
Secretary of the Senate Pat Harris said the project remains on schedule and under budget, with major building systems already operating and work shifting toward the finishes that lawmakers, employees and visitors will eventually see.
“We’re still on schedule,” Harris said. “We feel good that we’re under budget for what we’re putting up.”
The project includes the new State House, a parking deck that is already in use, demolition of the current State House and the creation of a public green space connecting the new legislative complex to the Capitol area.
While exterior work continues, Harris said much of the activity has moved indoors.
“The outside of the building, they’re doing a lot on the outside of the building, but mostly what you’re seeing now is people on the inside of the building hanging sheetrock, pulling wires, laying some flooring and putting the marble that we’ve salvaged from the old building into the new building,” Harris said.
One sign of progress is that many of the building’s core systems are already operational.
Harris said air conditioning is running throughout the facility, passenger and freight elevators are in service and construction crews are now able to work throughout the building regardless of weather conditions.
“AC is on in the building. The elevators are working in the building. The freight elevators are working, so they can get large pieces of equipment in,” Harris said.
He said work continues in key areas of the building, including legislative chambers and committee rooms.
The project is also preserving pieces of the current State House.
Marble removed from the existing building is being cleaned and incorporated into the new facility, including public entrances, chamber areas and legislative office reception spaces.
“We are repurposing as much of that marble as we can,” Harris said.
Legislative staff are expected to begin moving into the new facility in late October, with most employees relocated by early November.
The timeline is designed to allow offices to be operational before newly elected lawmakers take office following the November elections and before orientation sessions for new members begin in December.
“We want to be ready in December so that when we come in organizational session in January, everyone at least has an idea where the bathrooms are and where their offices are,” Harris said.
State leaders have long targeted the Legislature’s January organizational session as the first meeting to be held in the new State House.
Once lawmakers and staff move out of the current State House, attention will shift to demolition.
Harris said environmental testing is already underway to identify materials such as asbestos, mercury-containing components and refrigerants that must be removed before the building can be taken down.
Major demolition work could begin later this fall after the building is vacated, he said.
The site will eventually become a landscaped green space designed to connect the new State House complex with the Capitol grounds. Harris said that portion of the project could begin taking shape by late spring or early summer next year.
“We’re ready for it to be gone,” Harris said of the current State House. “It matches the whole idea of the campus of this area and for the people of the state.”
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