NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam has relocated to temporary office space while the state Capitol gets renovated.

The work on the more than 150-year-old building includes repairs and upgrades to heating and air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical systems.

The $15 million project is scheduled to be completed in December.

Much of the mechanical and electrical equipment being replaced was installed in 1955.

The governor and about 35 staffers have decamped to the 27th floor of the nearby William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower while the work is under way.

The end of the legislative session last week signaled that work on the Capitol could begin. Staffers packed up offices and art handlers got to work covering up busts to protect them against damage.

The governor's suite in the Capitol includes a reception area, a conference room and his personal office. The deputy to the governor, the administration's top lobbyist and th e finance commissioner have also vacated their offices on the main floor of the Capitol.

The change is perhaps most striking for Haslam staffers with offices on the subterranean level. The level was designed as an armory and fuel depot, but was converted into offices in the 1950s.

Those aides - including Haslam's communications and legal teams - now have windows with unobstructed views of city.

Also affected by the Capitol renovations are the offices of the House and Senate clerks and the state's treasurer, comptroller and secretary of state.

The work was originally scheduled to take place in 2011, but the newly sworn-in Haslam administration didn't want to immediately move out of the Statehouse upon taking office.

Construction fencing is going up around the Capitol grounds, and all public entrances will be locked for the duration of the project.

The Capitol was completed in 1859, but the General Assembly began using the unfinished building six years earlier.