Changing out a skyline sign on a 7 story building is never really an easy task. Changing out a skyline sign on a 7 story tall glass curtain wall is enough to make any sign fabricator lay awake at night. Oh and the same rules apply, no penetrating the glass.

When BlackRock acquired Barclays Global Investors, they tapped GNU to assist them on the rebranding effort for BGI’s (19) sites around the globe. And it all needed to be done by December 1st 2009. That gave GNU roughly two months time for planning, design, documentation and implementation for the entire program.

The most labor intensive change-over occurred at BGI’s former Headquarters at Foundry Square, in downtown San Francisco. With ADART having assisted us in the production and install of the original BGI skyline they were our natural go-to partner for this assignment as well.

Terry long of ADART immediately crafted a plan of attack for the removal of the old BGI skyline and install of the new BlackRock skyline sign. One might think it was a simple 2-3 step process. Think again.

Below is the outlined, step by step process that was required to pull off this project successfully, with (2) 12 hour shifts a day and all around the Thanksgiving Holiday:

Tue Nov 24  — First Shift
Install  the 3M temporary vinyl reading “Barclays Global Investors”. Disconnect  the electrical to the letters and remove the letters from the aluminum backings.

Tue Nov 24 –  Second Shift
Continue the scoring and removal of aluminum backing

Wed Nov 25 — First Shift
Remove the remaining letters  and remove all letters from the 400 Howard St premise.  Remove the vinyl from the interior of the glass  curtain wall that shields the 3M adhesive connection from the inside. Continue to  remove the aluminum

Wed Nov 25 — Second  Shift
Continue to remove the aluminum backing in one foot squares using  the special tools

Thur Nov 26 – THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Fri Nov 27 — First  Shift
Continue to remove aluminum backings

Fri Nov  27  — Second Shift
Continue to remove aluminum  backings

Sat Nov 28 — First Shift
Begin to remove the 3M adhesive

Sat Nov 28 — Second Shift
Complete removal of the 3M adhesive. Apply the 3M Saline solution to clean the glass in preparation for applying the 3M VHB adhesive

Sun Nov 29 — First Shift and only shift
Apply the 3M VHB Tape and  aluminum backer for the BlackRock letters and begin installation of the Black Rock letters

Mon Nov 30  — First Shift
Complete the installation of the BlackRock  letters. Connect the electrical to each letter and test the illumination.

Mon Nov 30 — Second Shift
Install the new vinyl on the inside of the glass curtain wall to shield the 3M adhesive connection of the letters

Tue Dec 1  — First Shift and only shift
Remove the temporary vinyl reading “Barclays Global Investors”, flick the switch for early morning illumination and official Day 1 integration

A HUGE thanks to ADART and their team of extremely professional and knowledgeable fabrication and install staff. A clear proven case that anything can be done with the right partners.

And a HUGE thanks to Kanan Jayachandran, GNU’s Program Manager that saw this assignment through to the end and was constantly in contact with our client no matter what timezone!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Design, Implementation, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.