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In this January 2023 photo, construction begins for the guest experience pavilions on the south side of Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, concrete beams are installed under the existing foundation of the Salt Lake Temple via the “jack and bore” process as part of the temple's seismic upgrade.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, waterproofing and heating conduit are installed under the Church Office Building plaza during the Temple Square renovation in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, construction crews waterproof and add landscaping to the Main Street Plaza as part of the ongoing Temple Square renovation project in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The temple, a sacred historical structure of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its surroundings on Temple Square are part of a multiyear seismic upgrade and renovation project in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, three additional lower floors of the Temple are formed during the Temple Square renovation project in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, crews begin to build the three additional lower floors on the north side of the Salt Lake Temple during the renovation project on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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In this January 2023 photo, crews excavate the northwest corner of Temple Square, where gardens will be planted as part of the Temple Square renovation project.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are waiting, mostly patiently, for the completion of the iconic Salt Lake Temple’s renovation.

Closed for renovation in 2019, it was originally expected to be reopened in 2024. However, additions and more work and building issues than anticipated has moved the opening to sometime in 2025, according to the church. The temple was originally completed in 1893 with an extensive renovation from 1962-1966.

The current renovation involves suspending the 187-million-pound temple and excavating 20 feet below it, using reinforced steel tubes through a process called “jack and bore.”

This process is a key component in the seismic upgrade of the Salt Lake Temple, now in its fourth year of renovation.

The entire temple literally rests on the result of that intricate work, according to a church report.

Those reinforcements and ones to connect all of the walls will allow the temple to move up to 5 feet as one large piece during a seismic event.

As part of the Salt Lake Temple renovation project, many of the grounds and areas surrounding Temple Square are being remodeled. The new landscape design will better integrate the temple grounds with Main Street, the Church Office Building plaza and the northwest areas of the temple that surround it.

Main Street Plaza began renovation in April 2022.

In order to keep the public and members of the church abreast of what is happening to a temple that is a worldwide symbol of the church, a bullet point report of what construction happened in 2022 and a preview of the 2023 goals for the renovation were introduced Tuesday.

In 2022, the following major work took place:

• Began Main Street Plaza work, which includes waterproofing and landscaping.
• Continued work on the “jack and bore” process of installing reinforced concrete beams under the existing foundations of the temple.
• Installed waterproofing and snow-melting heating conduit on the Church Office Building plaza. Began new paving work.
• Completed excavation on the north side of the temple.
• Began construction of the guest experience pavilions south of the temple.
• Began construction of the three additional lower floors of the temple addition (just north of the temple), which will include two baptistries, sealing (or marriage ceremony) rooms, dressing rooms and administrative offices.
• Completed excavation on the northwest corner of Temple Square, where there will be gardens for peaceful contemplation; removed portions of the wall.

In 2023, the following work is expected to begin or continue:

• Begin additional work on some of the areas surrounding Temple Square, including renovations on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Beehive House and Lion House.
• Continue construction of the guest experience pavilions south of the temple.
• Complete the Church Office Building plaza (expected in late fall).
• Complete the Main Street Plaza (expected in late fall).
• Complete the gardens and additional facilities in the northwest corner of Temple Square (expected in early fall).
• Install structural steel frames inside the tower spires.
• Begin installation of base isolator system.
• Complete the structural work of the three new floors on the north side of the temple. Begin finish work.
• Reinforce the stone walls and towers, which includes vertical drilling from the wall and tower columns to accommodate and connect post-tensioned cables to the new foundation.

In a video about the renovation, the church says that with all the work being done and the seismic upgrades, the temple should be able to stand for several hundred years.

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