Drought delays construction

     Waking up to the sound of construction outside room windows has not been the most pleasant experience for Bell Residents over the past few months. For other students, walking to class next to construction trucks has not been great either. It seems more and more renovations are being made on a daily basis.
     “The construction wakes me up every morning. I have learned to drown it out, yet I will be glad when they are done,” says Jesse Laudino, a freshman living in Bell.
     Another resident at Bell Hall, Chris Venable, says, “I am going  to be really annoyed if the construction does not get done next to Bell.”
     Chris explains the inconvenience of not being able to leave through one of the side doors because it is being blocked by construction. After all, construction was originally predicted to be done in early December.
     Not so fast. Due to the severe drought affecting all corners of Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue has issued a restriction for all projects working on landscapes. This executive order has stopped all landscaping on the Bell Hall green space project. Until further notice the landscaping part of the project is suspended.
     “The Governor wanted to take extra precautions even though Baldwin still has water,” says Rick Ruark, the associate director for Planting & Construction Services. “Although Baldwin County is not under a ban, we are under a restriction. But that can change.”
     Overall, the Bell Hall project began in June and was due to be finished by the end of the semester. Now the orange tape may be up for much longer. However, the other construction dealing with internal renovations on older buildings will be better off.
     The Parks Memorial Building has been under construction for about ten months now. Along with Parks, the Health and Sciences building has also been undergoing interior and exterior demolition. Both buildings are going to show dramatic improvements.
      “We are making adaptive resources of old buildings,” says Ruark.
     The improvements will allow for better classrooms, meeting spaces and a more beautiful interior in general. However, the loss of these buildings has caused the Nursing department to be squeezed into less space. Generally, there is still a lot of work to be done in these two projects. The Parks Memorial and the Health and Sciences Building are estimated to be complete in January 2009.
     Along with all this construction there is also future plans for renovations and adaptive reuses for Mayfair Hall, Ennis Hall, Beeson Hall and even the former Baldwin County Courthouse, which was bought by GCSU in 2000. All of this is part of what is called the six-year capital improvement plan for GCSU, recently approved by the Board of Regents.
     Under this six-year capital improvement plan, Mayfair Hall, which is the current art building, will be switching into Ennis Hall. Recently the art department has not had enough space in which to conduct art classes and studio sessions comfortably. Therefore, the Office of Facilities Planning made the decision to utilize Ennis Hall, which was not being used, to accommodate the art classes. Mayfair Hall, originally a hotel, will then be renovated to house visitors and guests to Georgia College on the upper floor. The rest of the building will be known as the “Faculty Resource Center.”
     The former Baldwin County Courthouse, which sits on the southeast corner of campus in front of Bell Hall, will become an administration building. Eventually the University President’s office will be moved there, as well as the University   Advancement office and much more.
      “New offices will allow faculty to be on campus. These changes will centralize them for students,”  said Ruark.
     Beeson Hall, the Student and the Health Services building, will be expecting a renovation and new organization to its interior as well. The Office of Facilities Planning intends on mixing new needs with the available space.
     “A lot of projects have been several years in the planning. We have a lot of historic buildings and they require a lot of care,”  said Ruark.
     By and large, the cost of this six-year capital strategic plan is 23 million dollars. It is going to take immense financial preparation and time. Architects and contractors must be hired, as well as Project Managers and teams. Mark Bowen is the current Project Manager overlooking the Health and Sciences construction, as well as Parks Memorial and the new West Campus multi-purpose building that is said to start construction next month. He spends most of his time as the main contact between the contractor, architectural firm, deans of the schools, and the faculty.
     “Ultimately, we try to find balance in order to provide adequate space for the learning process. We want to meet needs of students and faculty,” said Bowen.
     Obviously, the Office of Facilities Planning is not slacking on their job. All the construction is merely a big step in the direction of making our beautiful campus even better. Although the construction may be an inconvenience for a while, we will soon be seeing glorious outcomes.
     Over the next six years the Governor and General Assembly will continue to oversee and approve the capital projects projected in the Board of Regents six-year capital improvement plan. The development will be in the hands of many different teams and project managers. Expect to see many BIG changes around campus.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 30 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry