Campus Construction Update, February 8, 2021

In this week's episode, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Matt Dull chats with University Communications' Dave Blanks about the construction progress for Laurel Creek Residence Hall, as well as the early building stages of New River Hall, located on the site of the former Justice Hall.

Transcript

Dave Blanks: Hey folks, this is Dave Blanks from University Communications back once again with a Campus Construction Update, and I'm happy to be joined by Mr. Matt Dull, who I have just frightened for the first time ever. I've never scared you, Matt Dull, but today I have.

Matt Dull: That's right. We were having some microphone issues and I couldn't hear Dave speaking. And then all of a sudden ...

Dave Blanks: You did.

Matt Dull: I did, and very loudly.

Dave Blanks: I had the mute button clicked and I was like, "Hello, Matt, can you hear me?" I guess you were just like cranking up your speaker the whole time. All right. So that was silly and a fun way to start, but how are you?

Matt Dull: I am doing well.

Dave Blanks: Aside from that. Aside from that scare.

Matt Dull: Aside from a slight hearing issue now.

Dave Blanks: Well, good. I'm glad you're doing well. Do you have any updates for us today, Matt Dull?

Matt Dull: Yeah! Sure. I have a few updates for today. Things are moving forward. Although it's been a cold snap, right? We had a couple of weeks that have just been absolutely freezing.

Dave Blanks: Really has. It's been kind of rough.

Matt Dull: Yeah. So, and snow and high winds and cold temperatures — not amazing for construction, but luckily most things are inside the building now. The building is dried in and has temporary heat throughout it. So really, again, most of the work is happening inside the building. We talked about last time getting ready to hang Sheetrock and we're making good progress there on the east wing of the building. And we're talking about Laurel Creek. I don't think I actually mentioned that.

Dave Blanks: Right.

Matt Dull: On the east wing of the building, we're making the way down from that top floor. So we're working from top to bottom in that building.

Matt Dull: So finishing up level three this week and starting on level two. So, more than halfway through that east wing with drywall, and then over on the west wing side, we are starting drywall this week on that level five on that top level. So, making really good progress there, it takes about a week, total, to do a wing of a floor. So that's drywall in the hallways, all of the units, like inside the rooms and apartments and bathrooms. And so it takes about one week or so to get a wing of the building drywalled. So things are moving nicely there, on schedule. We had framing as kind of a theme of the week for probably about three months there or four months. And then drywall is probably going to be one of the themes here over the next month or month and a half or so as we kind of make the way through the building with putting up drywall.

Dave Blanks: Understood. Yeah, there's no real way to speed that process. You have to wait for it to cure and then go back and sand some more and ... right? I mean, it's laborious.

Matt Dull: It's like the never-ending finishing process of drywall. And then, of course, you know, you're doing it in a much, much larger scale than ... I mean, I can barely get any project done at my house in like half a year, you know. So, this is a very different scale and also a very different speed and expertise of folks that are doing this work.

Dave Blanks: Absolutely. I'm glad they're there.

Matt Dull: Yeah. That's going on. Over the next two weeks or so we've got masonry work that will, again, continue. That'll probably also be kind of this continual theme, so we should top out. And that's getting all the way to that fifth level on the street side of both the east and west wings here over the next two weeks.

Matt Dull: So as we kind of get to mid-to-late February, kind of all the masonry work that you can see from Stadium Heights Drive, kind of on the parking deck side, or if you're looking at it from Trivette or from Newland Hall, that kind of side of the building will be finished up all the way to the top floor, end of the month. That's just, say, weather dependent, but that's the goal to get through that by the end of February, then they'll start wrapping around the building and making their way into the courtyard of the building. But there's two teams working now on masonry work to kind of keep it moving along, one on the west side and one of the east side of the building. So, that continues. Let's see, we've got the installation of a lot of the mechanical equipment that's on the roof, so a lot of the HVAC systems, air handlers, those kind things, are going to be installed on the roof over the next couple of weeks. So we'll start seeing a crane onsite and start moving a lot of that heavier equipment up on the roof. Now that the roof has finished up and then elevator installation. I think that's some of the last update for this week on Laurel Creek. Elevator installation happens over the next couple of weeks. So the elevator is here and then the installation will start later this week and into next week. That will continue for probably the rest of February, maybe a little bit into March as well. So things moving forward. We've got permanent power coming to the building here over the next couple of weeks as well. So, a lot of big activities getting ready to get kicked off once you get permanent power, once we get the elevator put, in then a lot more of the mechanical work, HVAC work will start happening. So we'll start kind of making progress on a lot of the building systems. And then really once they finish up a lot of this Sheetrock, we'll move into really the fine finishes of the building of trim and cabinetry. And we're in the downhill stretch now where it really is getting to, we'd see what the building's going to look like, and we're really starting to, over the next month or so, really starting some of that finish work to really get a product that's going to really look like the final product on the interior as well.

Dave Blanks: Exciting. That's a lot of good progress on that building.

Matt Dull: Yeah! You know we are moving right on schedule. And we're excited about the progress that's being made there, despite COVID and the pretty cold and windy and snowy winter we've had. It's been a great construction project so far.

Dave Blanks: It has been like a winter-esque winter, which is almost kind of a nice thing to have, you know, because last winter was not.

Matt Dull: I feel like we haven't really had a really, like a winter-winter recently in the past few years, not just last year. I think it was two years ago, maybe three years, my wife and I, we bought snowshoes, and I think we've been able to use them once before this year. And then this year, I think we've used them twice already and ...

Dave Blanks: Excellent.

Matt Dull: ... we'll probably get a couple more uses out of them it looks like here over the next few weeks.

Dave Blanks: I think you're right about that. Well, that wraps up Laurel Creek. Do you want to move across the street?

Matt Dull: So yeah, over at New River Hall we are continuing to make progress there. Little less work this past week due to kind of those pretty much every day was below freezing temperatures, every day, all day and snow and ice. It gets difficult to do things like pouring foundations and footings and so a little slow start over there. Hopefully, you know, as we get, hopefully out of some of this winter weather over the next few weeks we'll really start to be moving along there, but still we're trying to make the most of it. We are working on getting that rough grading complete for each level of the building. So if you remember, there are really three kind of ground floors to New River Hall. So there's one that's on the terrace level, which is the kind of part of the building that's going to be closest to Rivers Street. Then there's a first-floor entrance to the building or first-floor kind of ground floor, which is looking out over at Duck Pond. And then there's a second-floor ground level, which is really kind of at the same level of the entrance to Justice, kind of where the old entrance of Justice was, is kind of the second floor or ground level, if you will.

Matt Dull: So, yeah, it's ...

Dave Blanks: That's weird!

Matt Dull: Yeah ... it is really confusing. Yeah. So, getting that rough grading complete as that building makes its way up the hill towards the stadium, trying to get those final elevations or near final elevations done here in the next few weeks. So that's continuing, work's continuing on that underground stormwater retention system and our stormwater sewer system that's going in. We're also working on the steam line and bringing a steam line to the building to service that building. We use steam for hot water and for heating the building. So, that steam line is making its way up. We're putting in the vault, is what they call it, where that connection from our campus steam line to the building is, that's being poured as the weather permits here in the next week or so. So, things again, are moving nicely there. A little slow last week just because of the weather, but we'll pick up speed here in the next few weeks. But yeah, things are moving along there.

Matt Dull: Let's see, the small lot that's behind Garwood is closed for the foreseeable future. There's a small faculty and staff lot. that's back there. It's really been kind of closed off for a little while now, but that's a staging area for both the housing project, as well as a reroofing project that we're doing at Garwood Hall as well. And there was a small set of stairs that kind of went down towards Garwood that's closed during this construction process, so that lot is going to remain closed here for the foreseeable future. We will get access back to that lot when the housing project is finished in the fall of '22.

Dave Blanks: Sounds good. Well, Matt, any other updates for today?

Matt Dull: I think that hits the highlights for this week.

Dave Blanks: Well, thank you very much for your time, sir. And we'll do it again.

Matt Dull: Absolutely. Thanks, Dave.