"Made in Germany" at the US Department of Defence
Quite appropriate: The world's mightiest military force is commanded from the world's "mightiest" office building. The US Department of Defense has been located in the Pentagon since 1943. The headquarters complex sits on the shore of the Potomac river in Washington, D.C. The various Defense Department offices were previously spread rather inefficiently all around the US capital. Each of the Pentagon's five exterior facades is 280 metres in length. Some 28 kilometres of corridors link the numerous offices covering a total area of more than 344,000 square metres. Thanks to the highly efficient design, it is possible to get from one location within the complex to any other in a maximum of just under eight minutes.
Profipress – the system of choice
Updating such a complex entails substantial expenditure in terms of both time and cost. Between 1994 and 2011, the Pentagon underwent a complete renovation costing 5.3 billion Dollars. Quality and cost-effectiveness were of course the top priorities on the prestigious project. After intensive testing, the product chosen for the sanitary and heating installations was Viega's highly durable and economical copper piping system Profipress (US standard).
45 kilometres of safe piping
Marv Wheeler from installation contractor Southland Industries cites a number of other points in favour of Profipress alongside its durability: "The press connection technology means the pipe connections are much tighter and more secure than soldered connections. And pressing cut the installation time literally by half." With 45 kilometres of piping, that was a key factor. In the USA copper pipes are traditionally soldered. Since the introduction of Profipress on the American market, however, the cold press connection technology "Made in Germany" has become more and more established.
