Winter intersession booked with projects big and small

The view of the main staircase from the Pulichino Tong Business Center ground floor Image by Ed Brennen
The Pulichino Tong Business Center's main staircase, as seen from the ground floor, adds a touch of orange to the open atrium.

01/03/2017
By Ed Brennen

From final touches on the $47 million Pulichino Tong Business Center to touching up paint in classrooms, labs and lecture halls across campus, Facilities Management is busy with projects big and small during the winter intersession.

The most notable work is on North Campus, where construction on the Manning School of Business’ new 54,801-square-foot home is nearing completion.

“Most of the building’s systems are in and we’ve already started the commissioning process,” says Project Manager Rupinder Sembhi of the Facilities Management department. “We are looking good on the construction side.”

Commissioning of the building, which means verifying systems such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC and fire safety, is expected to be completed by mid- to late January. A temporary certificate of occupancy will then be issued, with furniture slated for delivery in mid-February.

Plans call for moving faculty offices to the new building in mid-March, and the building’s ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Commencement weekend in mid-May.

The view from the second floor of the Pulichino Tong Business Center Image by Ed Brennen
The view of North Campus from the Pulichino Tong Business Center's second-floor landing.

“The building is going to bring our students and faculty together in new ways,” says Manning School Dean Sandy Richtermeyer. “It will be a great community-builder.”

The four-story building will include 10 classrooms on the first and second floors and faculty offices on the second, third and fourth floors. A state-of-the-art trading room will be featured prominently on the ground floor, as will a stock ticker suspended in the lobby’s atrium.

The building’s main staircase is painted a bold orange, which can already be seen prominently from University Avenue. The color matches the hallway that connects the business school to the first floor of the recently renovated Lydon Library. The business center and the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center form the backbone of the North Campus Innovation District, which brings the university’s engineering, science and business programs together for students, entrepreneurs and industry partners.

Elsewhere on campus, Facilities Management is working on:

  • Relocating and consolidating the university’s print and duplication services to 1499 Middlesex St., a recently acquired property located about a half-mile from South Campus. The print and duplication centers previously located in Dugan and Kitson halls have closed. Faculty and staff who wish to submit a print order can now do so online. Completed jobs will be available for pickup in new locker systems being installed this January in two locations: the first floor of the O’Leary Learning Commons on South Campus and the basement floor of Cumnock Hall on North Campus. “When your print job is completed, you’ll get an email notification with a code that you’ll use to open the locker,” explains Leanne Peters, assistant director of capital projects. The mail center previously located in Kitson Hall is also moving to the basement of Cumnock Hall.
  • Preparations for the renovation and renewal of Perry Hall for the Francis College of Engineering. The $42 million project, which is scheduled to start in July 2017 and be completed in late fall 2018, includes the renovation of 47,825 square feet of existing space and the addition of 5,600 square feet on the fourth floor. In addition to building code and accessibility upgrades, the project will include replacing existing windows, masonry repairs to the exterior façade, and the installation of new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems to all four floors. Before the renovation work can begin, interim labs have to be built this winter and spring in available space across North Campus, including Ball, Kitson, Southwick, Pinanski and Olney halls. Forty faculty offices, meanwhile, will be relocated to office space vacated by the Manning School of Business in Southwick, Kitson and Falmouth halls.
  • The addition of two new elevators at Fox Hall, an $18 million project that will make life much more convenient for the 800 students living in the 18-story East Campus residence hall. The project, which will increase the number of elevators at Fox Hall from three to five, is on track to be completed by mid-August. Foundations for the new elevators, which are being built on the exterior of the high-rise dorm, were completed in mid-December. Construction on the precast concrete elevator shaft is slated to start in late January and should be completed by mid-July. The modernization of the two existing passenger elevators, meanwhile, is scheduled to start on May 8.
  • The Aiken Fields complex on East Campus, which will provide students with two new turf playing fields for club and intramural sports and two tennis courts. The $6 million project is scheduled to be completed this summer. Facilities Management is working on plans for the complex’s storage building, fencing and landscaping.

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