Called the John Hancock Student Village—a $220 million, 822,000-square-foot student apartment, fitness, sports and entertainment complex—this is Boston University’s most ambitious building project since the construction of the Charles River Campus in the 1930s.

With 6,200 tons of structural steel for the 270,000-square-foot fitness and recreation center and the 265,635-square-foot sports and entertainment arena, corrosion was a chief concern of the two design firms. Working closely with Tnemec coating consultant Greg Pope, Cannon Structural Group and LeMessurier Consultants were seeking coatings designed to protect perimeter steel while providing an appropriate primer for sprayed-on fireproofing.

Just in time for the BU specification, Tnemec introduced to the market a single-component, moisture cured primer designed especially for compatibility with the most popular types of fireproofing. Called Series 394 PerimePrime, this MIO/zinc-filled primer offers triple protection against corrosion and outperforms alkyd steel shop primers. With this creation, Tnemec introduced a distinctive, high-performance structural steel primer able to meet the AISC requirements of Class B Slip over SSPC-SP3 surface preparation.

Members of the BU design/build team appreciated PerimePrime’s UL Classification for use under select fireproofing materials, as well as the value associated with adding the primer to their project—less than one percent of the total steel cost.

For the many different areas of the project, Pope also specified additional Tnemec products including Series 594 Omnithane for the pool area; Series 130 Envirofill and Series 161 Tneme-Fascure for the walls in the pool area; Series 27 F.C. Typoxy as the topcoat for the ice rink area; Series 15 Uni-Bond for the gym; Series 61 Tneme-Liner for the ice trenches in the Zambone area; and Series 664 Dur A Pell 40 for the stadium seating.