Monday, June 11, 2007

Renovation update

I was hoping to post more often than I have been. Funny how life and work get in the way.

Renovation is moving along and currently out the door. The estimate is that when all is said and done 600 to 800 truck loads of concrete, dirt, carpet, and who knows what else will be removed from the 1st or basement floor of the Criss Library. I think most of the concrete floor has been removed as I have not heard any banging or pounding for a few days.

The air quality of the building has been, well dismal. They are doing everything they can to keep things comfortable for patrons, employees, and the contractors. Most of the employees are running fans as the building's air handlers get turned on and off as need be. All of my fellow employees, or at least the ones I've talked to about building issues, are keeping an optimistic attitude. There are complaints, but nothing worse than under normal working conditions, and possibly not as vocal as under normal conditions.

Also on campus this summer, the Library is not the only building undergoing renovation. The student center food court, the HPER building (or was it the field house), and the former Engineering building are all undergoing improvements. New dorms are being built, which is a good thing. There is rumor of a new parking garage, and I think the old parking garage has also been undergoing repairs. On a sad note, the home my father grew up in was torn down to make room for the new dorms.

1 comment:

lori said...

Summer and renovations should be synonyms--at least in academia. That would get us to two seasons. The academic year and renovation season.

Sorry about the air quality and your Dad's childhood home. Too bad they couldn't remodel it as student housing, but that probably wouldn't be as efficient as multi-story student housing buildings.

We've probably got about 1/3 of the perimeter of campus blocked due to various projects. The sidewalk/street where the latest project started yesterday were not properly blocked off (read--not at all), so the crew was breaking up cement just inches from a library worker's car. Fortunately, the Dean saw the writing on the wall (and the chips of flying cement) and recognized the car and alerted the person in question.