Campus Construction Update, September 14, 2020

In this all-new Campus Construction Update, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Matt Dull chats with University Communications' Dave Blanks about the latest updates for Appalachian's west side construction projects, including construction progress for Laurel Creek Hall and the demolition progress on Justice Hall.

Transcript

Dave Blanks: Hey, folks. This is Dave Blanks from University Communications back with a Campus Construction Update, joined by Matt Dull. Hey, Matt Dull.

Matt Dull: Hey, Dave. Glad to be back. It's been a couple of weeks.

Dave Blanks: It has. I'm glad you're back in the saddle. I'm glad we're getting some updates. What do you want to start with today?

Matt Dull: You know, we've had a successful move-in. We've had a successful ... I think we talked about last time that we had our ribbon-cutting ceremony coming up and it actually happened, back last week or actually two weeks now. I guess Sept. 3.

Dave Blanks: You got some good shout outs in that, I was glad to hear.

Matt Dull: Yeah, it was fun. It was a great event. A lot of folks got recognized just for all their hard work on the project. And yeah, it's just, that's kind of a fun day, like a nice milestone day when you're, you know, with the construction of any building to be able to really do a ribbon-cutting and recognize folks. And yeah, it's just, it's fun. Right? And there's a whole lot of struggle sometimes, or a whole lot of anxiety around building and constructing. And it was just kinda fun just to have a day to celebrate. It went well. And of course it was a livestream. It looked a little different from probably most of our ribbon-cutting kind of things this year. But yeah, it was great. Good event.

Dave Blanks: Good. I'm glad it happened and went off without a hitch. How's construction going?

Matt Dull: Construction is going well. We're well on our way kind of to our phase two construction with Building 300 or Laurel Creek Hall. So it's, it is moving.

Dave Blanks: Cool. So when last we spoke about Laurel Creek Hall, they were going to start framing, I think. Have they already started framing?

Matt Dull: That's right. I think they had just started, we had just finished the ... pouring the foundations, and I think we were just starting framing last time we talked.

Dave Blanks: So, that's underway, has been underway for a couple of weeks now.

Matt Dull: It has been underway for a couple of weeks. So that foundation work is complete. The elevator and stair towers, the CMU block elevators and stair towers finished up last week. Now they're working on installing the stairs and treads in those stair towers, so you actually have a real set of stairs kind of throughout the construction of the project. Those are done pretty early. So those are going in last week and this week, and really the theme, you know, for the next few months is framing. So it's just, it's really kind of going as hard as possible to get all of the framing done here in the next couple of months so that we enter the winter months with a fairly dried in building, that we don't have a significant amount of framing left. So that's really the name of the game right now. Kind of ongoing throughout the building. The wing of the building ... so Building 300 or Laurel Creek is kind of like a V, and there's split into kind of a wing that's kind of closest to Trivette and a wing that's closest to kind of that new parking deck or Eggers and Bowie. So, they're really focusing and they've moved on to the second floor framing, the second floor of the wing that's closest to Trivette Hall.

Dave Blanks: Oh! So they already framed, they already framed one floor?

Matt Dull: Framed one floor, then put in kind of the floor joists and the trusses for the second floor.

Dave Blanks: Awesome!

Matt Dull: ... Now working on the walls on the second floor and they'll hopefully finish that up this week and be moving to kind of the floor joists and trusses for the floor of the third floor going in towards the end of this week, early next week. So moving along there. And then the framing really just began last week, on the first floor of the wing that's closest to Bowie and Eggers. So it really is underway this week. We've got two cranes on-site to really help with the framing. The framing we're doing a little bit differently. We're pre-building panels for the framing off-site, and then bringing the constructed panels on-site for installation in the field. So where, with Building 100 and 200 that, you know, we ... I keep saying 100 and 200. Old habits time.

Dave Blanks: I know you can't quit.

Matt Dull: Can't quit it. That's right. So at Thunder Hill and Raven Rocks Hall, we actually did all the framing on-site, which means you had all of your crews there that were kind of field constructing every bit and piece of the frame. This time around we're changing it slightly. We're actually constructing the, kind of, panelized or panels of sections of the frame and a warehouse, and then trucking them in and then craning them in place and really just doing the kind of attaching or installing in place. Hopefully, you know, we do hope that gives us a little bit more of an advantage of being able to get it dried in quicker because you're doing a lot of the construction in a climate-controlled space that you can build no matter how crummy the weather is that day,

Dave Blanks: Right.

Matt Dull: You're, you're really doing, kind of, almost like Lego-type assembly on-site with when the, you know, the crane flies those panels in place, you can get a crew to install the panels. So, we just really hope that that's an advantage for this kind of second phase, that to be able to get dried in a little bit quicker and give us a little more time on some of the interior and finish work on Laurel Creek.

Dave Blanks: So no parts of this, of Thunder Hill and Raven Rocks, were constructed off-site and then brought in? Because I do remember us talking about that, but it may have been when we were talking about the parking deck.

Matt Dull: The parking deck. Yeah. So the parking deck was prefab. So the panels were all panelized. The panels were poured off-site and then trucked in. That was back in 20, oh gosh, I guess in early 2019. Time is flying. But yeah, with Thunder Hill and Raven Rocks, no, we didn't do any of the panelized construction or kind of off-site construction. It really was ... now some of the trusses, the roof trusses, some of those things were constructed off-site and brought on-site. But really, kind of the real structure of the building was all done in the field and not panelized. So, slightly different way to do it this time.

Dave Blanks: Well, cool. I'd be anxious to see if it is way more efficient this way. I mean, I can't, I don't know how it possibly wouldn't be more efficient since, like you said, climate-controlled environment, you know, not the same maybe time constraints. I don't know about the other one. Anyway, yeah, that's an interesting little factoid.

Matt Dull: Little factoid for you today.

Dave Blanks: Thanks for sharing.

Matt Dull: Yeah. But you know, we constructed Mountaineer Hall ... that was, I guess back in like 2009, 2010, maybe into 2011; I think that's the right timeline. It all runs together now.

Dave Blanks: Is that the one that's closest to the student union? Or is that the one that's over behind the ...

Matt Dull: That's the one kind of just below App Heights, but above the Student Rec Center. It's where the old Mountaineer Apartments were. And, you know, if folks have been around campus, that was originally kind of the family housing we had on campus. And yeah, Mountaineer was kind of the replacement of that. But Mountaineer was a modular constructed building. So it was all built off-site, or kind of each of the units and rooms, and it was even more constructed off-site so that we had kind of entire rooms with bathrooms and everything all built off-site, drywall on the walls, everything kind of ready to go. And they were truly just kind of like one little cube at a time put together on-site. And doing that kind of climate-controlled, and doing some of that panelization or modularization off-site, really, at least in that project, I think it really helped speed up the project and getting us a final constructed building much quicker than trying to do it on-site. Just with the winters and crummy weather here. You know, it really does slow down the construction. And I get it, you know, being outside in the cold and trying to do framing on-site for eight, nine hours a day, 10 hours a day, it's just, it's slow work. When the weather's not great.

Dave Blanks: It does add an additional layer of difficulty because you have to move the thing. You have to get it onto a truck to get it there. You might crane it in.

Dave Blanks: It is a logistical problem you're working with there, right. Because you're having to move it in on a truck. It really has to be kind of just in time. So, you don't want a whole lot of these panels just sitting around because we have a pretty tight construction site, because it's right in the middle of an active campus where students are living and we can't take up parking spaces. So, they really have to kind of bring them in as they need the panels. So, it is a little bit more of a logistical puzzle, I think, for our crews to figure out this time around because it is, it really has to be kind of delivered just in time.

Dave Blanks: It's just worth it not to fight the weather. It's just got to be worth it.

Matt Dull: That's what we're hoping.

Dave Blanks: Cool. Well, that's interesting. Yeah. What else is going on, Matt?

Matt Dull: Well, you know, Justice Hall demolition — that continues. They're continuing with that demolition; that'll continue really through October, early November of that demo and getting that site ready for New River Hall. So, that continues. Some of our steam line replacement that's, you know, that is a smaller part of the project, but it's really important to our campus infrastructure, that is kind of going down Stadium Heights Drive, which if you're at Jack Branch Drive, which kind of goes in between Thunder Hill and Raven Rocks and the new athletics complex, kind of end zone complex, when you take a right, which used to be kind of the entrance into Stadium Lot, that is Stadium Heights Drive. That whole kind of roadway all the way down towards the new parking deck and down towards Trivette Hall, we've got a steam line that we're replacing there. So that should wrap up here in the next month or so, hopefully kind of towards the end of September, early October. So we'll have that part of the project finished up this fall as well. So that that's going well. You know, having to kind of constantly, you know, do a little bit at a time, little section at a time, so we don't interrupt traffic flow and keep it a safe construction site, because it is, you know, it's ... we're an active campus. We have students here and and cars and trucks trying to get in for deliveries to Trivette Hall and that kind of stuff all going on while we're having active construction sites. So they're moving along well and, again, that part of the project will wrap up this fall.

Dave Blanks: Awesome. Great. Anything else you want to cover today, Matt?

Matt Dull: I think that's the highlights for today.

Dave Blanks: Awesome. Well, thank you for your time and we will do it again. Thanks, Matt.

Matt Dull: Absolutely. Thanks, Dave.