Tech Tower to undergo renovations

Photo by Blake Israel

Renovations and construction currently taking place on Cherry Street will soon expand into the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Administration Building, also known as Tech Tower.

Tech Tower, which houses a number of members of Tech’s administration as well as the Registrar’s Office, will be undergoing an extensive overhaul of utilities systems within the infrastructure. The renovations will range from upgrading the plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical systems to some safety and accessibility improvements, including modifications to outdoors fire escape stairwell. A second set of fire stairs will also be added to the building.

Elevators within Tech Tower will be improved as well. Following the renovations, they will have capability to access the fourth floor of the building, and will have been made larger in size to allow space for emergency personnel and their equipment in case of an emergency or any technical difficulties.

Installation of energy efficient windows are also among the slated alterations to Tech Tower. The total price of the renovations is currently estimated at $7.5 million. The renovations were expected to begin this past week, requiring those currently working within the premises of the building to relocate. In mid October, construction fencing will be installed, and actual work will begin roughly a week later.

“The relocation of various services will be of most impact to students,” said Linda Daniels, Associate Director of Capital Planning and Space Management at Tech. “They will have to learn their way to get to the new locations.”

Administrators of both the College of Sciences (CoS) and the College of Engineering (CoE) will be required to relocate out of the building due to renovations. CoS administrators will be relocating to the Cherry Emerson building, and CoE administrators will be moving to the Manufacturing Research Center building. Because of this, students will be required to visit those buildings in order to work with the aforementioned administrators. The Registrar’s Office will also be relocating to the Savant building during the period of the renovations.

Construction is currently estimated to take 12-18 months in total.

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