Herty updates in final stages

Herty Hall’s original construction will tentatively be completed by mid-February with the project coming in $900,000 under projected budget costs.

Original construction costs totaled $3.4 million and with the final costs coming in below that figure, additional items can be added to enhance Herty Hall further than expected.

“This job came in and we had this extra money and we all got together and put together a list of scope additions so we are just checking them off as the money comes available,” said project manager at Plant Operations Donnie Beasley.

“Scope is the definition of what you want the project to turn out to be,” said Rick Ruark, associate director for planning, construction and business services for Plant Operations. “Scope is the bare minimum of the original project and additional scope is what you add.”

The additional scope items for the Herty Hall project will include three major things.

The green house will be placed on the roof, where a space already exists. The interior of the observatory will be finished with flooring, sheetrock and more shelves. A new boiler will also be purchased and installed for the building. The current boiler is 30-years-old and is in need of an update.

These additions will be paid for with the money that was left over from the budget as well as with the remaining contingency money, which will be released in full when construction is complete.

“Contingency (money) is for unforeseen conditions or delays,” Ruark said. “Delays are a big part of this project because when they started the project, the rain started, and so that set the project behind right at the very start. So contingency pays for those costs. You always have a contingency on the project because it is a known fact that something is going to come up and most of the time you don’t have to use it and you save it until the end.”

Ten percent of construction costs were held for contingency for the Herty Hall project.

Ninety-five percent of the Herty Hall construction project is completed and crews are working on the finishing touches.

“They are painting and putting in flooring now. Ceiling tiles next week,” Beasley said.

After initial construction is finalized, the extra items will be started on immediately. These additions will push back the completion of Herty Hall from mid-May to June.

The process for obtaining money for the project takes an abundance of paperwork and time.

To become eligible for funds from the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, Georgia College is first responsible for creating a master plan for the year.

“The president and the master plan committee will get together and develop long term strategies for the university,” Ruark said. “Things they would like to renovate. Things they would like to build and any purchases they would like to make. Everything is included in the master plan.”

The master plan is sent to the Board of Regents and they decide to accept or reject the proposed plans. If the plan is approved, initial sketches and pricing is done and this information is sent to staff at the BOR.

The staff members will present the information to the BOR and then the BOR will prioritize the order of requests made by all of the institutions. This list is presented to the Georgia Legislature and they decide how much money to allocate to capital projects for the year. When the amount is agreed upon, the GSFIC will sell bonds to pay for the projects.

“We reduced the original scope of Herty to make it a minor capital. The minor capital position tends to get the money a lot quicker than a major capital project,” Ruark said.

Even so, the current Herty’s Hall construction had to wait four years to get approval.

Posted by Bobbi Otis on Feb 10 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.