Projects

The World Trade Center

The World Trade Center

New York, New York
United States
WTC

Our team provided security and protection program services for the World Trade Center in New York, New York.

Our team was retained shortly after the events of 9/11 by the PANYNJ to assist in the development of a security and protection program for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center (WTC) site for the purpose of providing specific guidance in the reconstruction of the site and all of its occupancies in all matters related to safety and security. 

This process engaged all of the design disciplines within the PANYNJ including Architectural, Engineering, Office of Emergency Management, and Priority Capital Project Divisions and the PANYNJ’s outsourced sub-consultants and design professionals including structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, sustainability, and others to ensure that this Site Security Master Plan had the benefit of the best talent from the broadest range of the design professional community. 

Additionally, this process engaged, members of LMDC, NYPD, FDNY, MTA, NYCT, NYS-DOT, NYC-DOT, PATH, the developer of the commercial properties, and the Federal Transportation Association, and others to enhance document process development and content quality and to achieve stakeholder consensus and required approvals. 

Following the Threat and Risk Assessment (TARA) for each tower, we developed the Security Performance Criteria (SPC) document that both governed the design process and provided design guidance to each of the specialty disciplines on the subsequent projects.  As a sampling, the SPC affected the design in areas of blast mitigation, core design, curtain wall performance, operational programs, electronic security systems, evacuation, rescue, and recovery (ERR). We also provided the communications and network design for each tower to ensure a robust infrastructure resulting in the required survivability based on historical attack methodologies. 

As the consultant and the engineer of record for the five towers, we were responsible for the multiple security programs that were implemented at the WTC site. We also provided commissioning for all security-related systems to ensure the functionality of not only the individual security systems, but the integrated components with the required sub-systems such as BMS, vertical transportation, and fire alarm.  We continue to provide services to the client after commissioning by developing user manuals and ensuring the quality of all systems programming resulting in a planned transition from contractor to client use. 

The Vehicle Screening Center (VSC) is the single most important screening point to the 16-acre WTC site. The VSC is responsible for the monitoring and screening of all delivery vehicles including tour buses that require access to below-grade areas of the WTC site. We also provided security consulting and engineering for the WTC Memorial; Performing Arts Center; 7 WTC Reconstruction; and the Downtown Transportation and Concourse PATH Station. 

At 1,776 feet tall, One WTC (originally the Freedom Tower) is one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic structures in the world. For the design team, it was a question of “if”, but “when” the building will be targeted again by terrorist activity. For that reason, security has been incorporated into every aspect of the building, including structural resiliency and standoff, tenant and visitor management, contraband screening, egress pathways and planning, and systems redundancy. Every detail was highly scrutinized and evaluated to ensure One World Trade is a safe and secure building that will anchor lower Manhattan for generations to come. 

We developed electronic security systems, identified architectural and structural physical security components, architectural design features, and security operational policies, procedures, and staffing plans necessary to implement protection programs specific to these facilities. 

We were also assigned the responsibility of quality assurance monitoring throughout the design in order to ensure that the security program integrity remains responsive to the security design criteria.  These activities have included providing insight, advice, and security-related oversight to the structural designs, architectural designs, fire protection system designs, fire detection system designs, emergency power system designs, electronic security system designs, vertical transportation, and numerous other project design components. 

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