Over the summer semester of 2015, numerous places on Tech’s campus underwent varying degrees of construction.
The Student Center parking lot, located outside the West entrance to the Student Center and South of the Smithgall building, was one of the locations renovated during the summer session.
“The main reason for the work at the Student Center Parking lot is to provide easier access into the lot,” said Frank Lamia, Associate Director of Construction services. “The project also provides general maintenance such as re-paving and re-striping.”
According to Lamia, bike racks and new pay stations were also among additions to the student center parking lot. Safety and compliance upgrades were also implemented during the renovation process. However, Lamia did not comment on the fact that the construction took place during the same time as many FASET sessions, only saying that the timing was selected because many students would be home during the summer session.
Another project, which is still under construction, involves Tech’s Atlantic Steam Line. Once completed, the current steam line will have been replaced. The new line will connect to manhole G8-8 and extend west to the mechanical room of the Howey Physics Building.
A map has been drawn up to represent the alternate routing of vehicular and pedestrian traffic that will be necessitated by the construction. Projections estimate the project to be completed soon, hopefully some time during October 2015.
Construction on Hinman Courtyard and Harrison Square began in March 2015. Facilities Management estimated that it would be complete sometime during the Summer. However, the work on Harrison Square is still ongoing at this time.
The expectation of Facilities Management for Hinman Courtyard (once renovations were finished) was that the area would be able to be utilized much more efficiently.
For Harrison Square, walking paths, walls, landscaping and utilities will receive work and updates. Regarding both the renovation projects, Facilities Management emphasized that they will not damage the historic integrity of either site on campus.
There has also been a somewhat large construction area in the immediate vicinity of the Smithgall building.
According to Lamia, the main objective was to replace the building’s roof membrane. The work has mostly concluded and the chain link fences were removed this past week.