Press hall for Springfield News-Leader

Location: 651 N. Boonville Ave.

Project owner: Gannett

Co. Inc.

Contractor: DeWitt and Associates

Estimated cost: $6 million

Completion date: June 2002

With 775,000 cubic feet of space and a height of 60 feet, the new press hall comprises 32,000 square feet. One challenge of the project was designing the press hall's mechanical room on top of the News-Leader's existing distribution dock. The press hall's mechanical support systems heating, cooling, plumbing and compressed air are fully redundant and are engineered to keep the press operating at full capacity even if 50 percent of the mechanical support facilities fail. The offset press requires a fully controlled climate at all times to operate at peak efficiency. Special registers at different levels introduce high quantities of conditioned air, which minimizes disturbance of the newspaper webs running through the press. Special automatic ink filters were installed to prevent the ink mist generated by the press operation from returning and damaging the press.