Campus Construction Update April 4, 2022
Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Matt Dull chats with University Communications' Dave Blanks about the construction progress for App State's New River Hall. The exterior work is nearly complete.
Transcript
Dave Blanks: Hey folks. I'm Dave Blanks from University Communications and back with another campus construction update, back with Matt Dull in studio. Hey Matt.
Matt Dull: Hey. Hey, how are you?
Dave Blanks: I'm doing excellent. I got the place lit up with overhead lights.
Matt Dull: I saw you looking at a Post-it Note. Were you trying to remember my name or something?
Dave Blanks: I got this handsome fellow here. He knows who he is. This guy. I think we all know it's Matt Dull. Ah, yes. No, Matt, I know who you are. I'm glad you're here to talk about campus construction and we'll start out with New River.
Matt Dull: Yeah, we'll just jump into New River.
Dave Blanks: Okay. Sounds good. What's going on with New River?
Matt Dull: So, outside the building's looking good. We'll get most the masonry work done, about 90% of the masonry work.
Dave Blanks: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Matt Dull: So, still on schedule for really finishing that up that first full week of April. So around April the 6th, should really be done with all of the exterior masonry work on the building. So-
Dave Blanks: The only way you can tell that is not quite done is if you're coming down Stadium and you look way back in the corner there, it's like, "Oh yeah, there's a little strip-
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: Where they haven't gotten to it yet."
Matt Dull: Yeah, what's left is really that there's one section that's left, which is where we were using to enter the building with materials to drywall. So it's the last section to get done-
Dave Blanks: I got you.
Matt Dull: Because you don't have these big freight elevators to be able to haul this stuff,
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: So you got to leave some little section open. So, now that we're done with all of the large material that needs to get in the building, we can wrap up that one last section.
Dave Blanks: Cool. Nice. That's how planning works. It's like, [crosstalk 00:01:33] "We'll finish this last because this is how we get in." And I'm just glad I wasn't involved in that process because it would not have occurred to me.
Matt Dull: Well, that's actually an interesting-
Dave Blanks: Order of operations.
Matt Dull: Order of operations, right? Yeah. You have to really-
Dave Blanks: It's so important.
Matt Dull: Think about that. And these large projects have often times multiple project managers from the contractor, and their whole job is keeping the master schedule of-
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: Order of operations and what has to happen when and what is dependent on other things happening. And it's really important too, because if you think about it, if you get a room almost totally done, and then all of a sudden you got to go back and you got to put in an ethernet port-
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: And it's like, "Oh great. Now we got to tear up all this [crosstalk 00:02:16] stuff that we've done. We've cleaned the room. We've painted everything, everything looks perfect.
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: And now we got to go back and do that."
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: So if you don't get the order of operations perfectly right, it creates a lot of rework.
Dave Blanks: Very ineffective.
Matt Dull: Yeah. And that can push your schedule, that can also add cost to everybody. So-
Dave Blanks: Right. Having to do the same thing twice because you had to fix it-
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: After you already did it one time.
Matt Dull: That's right. So order of operations is super important on these larger scale projects.
Dave Blanks: Well, it ain't my strong suit, so glad y'all didn't tap me for this one.
Matt Dull: But the next project-
Dave Blanks: Yeah. Well, okay. Maybe I'll take some kind of online course on it or something, I don't know.
Dave Blanks: A masterclass in order of operations.
Dave Blanks: Anything else on the exterior?
Matt Dull: Yeah. So most exterior's done. Roofing is going on, that final roof, we had a little bit of a delay in getting the material here, the insulation material, but we're about 60% of the way through, on the roof now, on the permanent roof. So probably, I can't remember the exact date, but we're probably another month or so out from finishing up that roof that's up there. So a lot of that's just weather dependent, you've got to have warmer days, 40, 45 degrees and rising kind of days in terms of temperature, can't really get the insulation material wet. So you have these periods of time where it rains for three or four days in a row-
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: Or drizzles, not a great day to install. So we're getting through and that shouldn't be any kind of delay to the delivery of the project but yeah, roofing materials going on and then that really will wrap up kind of that building envelope. Windows are all in, all the storefront system systems are in, there's a few on the lounges in the building, they've got these larger metal panels that are that Hartford green color-
Dave Blanks: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Matt Dull: That we have everywhere else on campus.
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: That'll go in some of the larger areas to that part of those big storefront systems. So a little bit of that goes in, but for the most part, yeah. Most of that building envelope will really wrap up here in the next month or so.
Dave Blanks: Where is Hartford? Is that Connecticut?
Matt Dull: I don't know.
Dave Blanks: I think that's in Connecticut.
Matt Dull: Well, there is a Hartford in Connecticut.
Dave Blanks: Hartford, Connecticut that's where the green comes from.
Matt Dull: I don't know either. I'm curious, it's too bad. It's not deep gap green.
Dave Blanks: Deep gap green.
Matt Dull: You know the one.
Dave Blanks: What else, Matt?
Matt Dull: So I guess inside the building, really we're finished up and now back walking a wing of the building, so that side of the building that's closest to River Street. So most of that work is done. Those rooms are pretty much looking like what they're going to look like when students move in and they're getting to where they're move in ready for students. There's certainly a few activities that are finalizing in that area. All of our fire alarm systems are now being installed in that area.
Matt Dull: So to get to this point, everything's been pulled to like a junction box on the wall or on the ceiling. But-
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: Now you're actually doing the installation of some of those kind of last minute things that really go in after you finish everything and get everything cleaned up, then it's ready to put the equipment in. So yeah, the alarm devices are going in throughout the A section now. And then on the B section on the side that's closest to where Gardner Coal Train was. They're now working on putting in second coat of paint, really finishing out the trim work in that section, carpet, flooring, final hardware that's in the bathroom. So things like towel racks and-
Dave Blanks: Shampoo dispensers.
Matt Dull: Yeah, that's right.
Dave Blanks: You ever go to one of those fancy hotels with a shampoo dispenser in the shower and you're like, this thing's weird. Why did they do this?
Matt Dull: That's right.
Dave Blanks: Anyway, that's probably not what you-
Matt Dull: No that's not what they have.
Dave Blanks: [crosstalk 00:06:20] No, we don't have this.
Matt Dull: No, but all the little hardware things.
Dave Blanks: Door Stops?
Matt Dull: Exactly. Yeah. Things like door stops or towel racks and each of the rooms actually have a separate shower room and separate toilet room that are closable, lockable. So could provide some privacy when you've got four people maybe sharing the same bathroom-
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: Facility where those can be lockable, so they'll have places where people can hang their towels or clothes where they're showering and that kind of stuff, so.
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: All of that's getting installed. So once you get your final paint done, you really are to the point where, okay, we can put this up and it's not going to mess up anything else.
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: You're not going to have to go back and touch up things.
Dave Blanks: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Matt Dull: So that's all going to happen more on the B wing. And then once both of those wings get fully complete, then all that work really will focus on that central lobby area in the building. Once you really start getting where you're not rolling all this material through the building, you've really got everything cleaned up and where you're not having to haul in a bunch of stuff that might mess up that central area. That's when we'll start working on the terrazzo floors, pouring those floors in that central area, and then finishing up, doing the drywall finish and ceiling and that kind of stuff just in that central common area at right when you walk in. We've got some meeting rooms and that kind of stuff. And that'll be kind the last piece because that's where everything starts right now. And you really want to kind of finish that up once you don't need to be dragging stuff through the middle part of the building.
Dave Blanks: Right.
Matt Dull: So all that's wrapping up, getting ready to be refocused in that central core area as we wrap up the A and B wing. Yeah. Continuing on elevator work, steam work, the fire pump area, electrical and water systems, all that's getting wrapped up to where we'll start doing a punch of all the mechanical systems here in the mid to late April to start punching out those areas. And then that'll give a final to-do list of what do we need to do to wrap up this project. And then a lot of that work will occur in that May/June timeframe, furniture starts moving in in June and early July. So we're really not too far out from having a building that's going to be furnished and all the IT equipment, all that stuff starts here in the next, probably May, June, July timeframe. We'll really be more focused on furnishing in the building and that final equipment that's in the building. So.
Dave Blanks: And then we won't have anything else to talk about Matt.
Matt Dull: That's right.
Dave Blanks: I got to build some more residence halls, man.
Matt Dull: That's right.
Dave Blanks: We keep coming up with stuff to chat about.
Matt Dull: That's right.
Dave Blanks: No, there's plenty going on all the time, including some demo.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: I think that we were going to talk about-
Matt Dull: demolition as well, going on in this last phase of the housing project is Bowie and Eggers will also be demolished as a part of the project. So spring break was a couple of weeks ago for students on campus. And so it was actually a good time to go into both of the buildings, Eggers and Bowie and take a look at some things that are maybe behind the walls and just get a general sense of the conditions that basically in about two months we'll be taking that building down. So the university will hand both of those buildings over to the contractor on June the first, and then they will pretty immediately start mechanically taking down both of those buildings.
Dave Blanks: Aw.
Matt Dull: I know, no implosion.
Dave Blanks: Man, so that was what I was waiting for.
Matt Dull: Nope, they'll be mechanically done so.
Dave Blanks: Well honestly from a audio nerds perspective, listening to the mechanical take down is kind of cool. Sort of sounds like dinosaurs or something.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: It's like some Jurassic Park-esque noises. Yeah.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: And you can hear it like all over-
Matt Dull: Oh yeah, [crosstalk 00:10:17] that goes around. Yeah.
Matt Dull: So that all kind of get kick started. We'll move furniture out first, right as soon as students move out, that whole area kind of behind Eggers and Bowie will actually be fenced off during the demolition. There's a small parking lot that's back there. All of that's going to be fenced off, including the upper exit and entrance of the parking deck.
Dave Blanks: Oh.
Matt Dull: There's a entrance up behind Eggers and Bowie. That's going to be closed off temporarily for about six months as we wrap this project up. So it's going to be a demolition of Eggers and Bowie we'll do then the site work that we need to do to put drainage and that kind of stuff in, and then all that area up there will be a fairly, I think it's 140, 150 space parking, surface parking lot up there.
Dave Blanks: Okay.
Matt Dull: And that'll all be at the same level of the top of that parking deck.
Dave Blanks: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Matt Dull: So since demolition is really close to that parking deck, really need to kind of close off that entrance of the parking deck.
Dave Blanks: Yeah.
Matt Dull: And I have a lot of traffic back there and then that'll allow us to get that all to a brand new finished parking lot back in that area. So by the end of the fall semester, all of that will be done. Really all of the housing project will be totally done by the end of 2022.
Dave Blanks: All right. So you're saying that all of it's going to be done by the end of 2022.
Matt Dull: Yeah.
Dave Blanks: Which is the year that we're in now.
Matt Dull: Which is the year that we're in now, almost in April, like we said.
Dave Blanks: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Anything else to cover today, Mr. Dull?
Matt Dull: I think that hits the highlights.
Dave Blanks: Matt, thank you for your time. We'll do it again. Sounds good.
