Education Building completion deadline pushed back

The Education and Human Services Building is 60 percent complete, according to a report by Facilities Management.

In some spots the brick-colored finish can already be seen, which will be the dominant color on the building’s exterior once it is completed.

Windows, roofing, drywall finishing, the exterior terra cotta layer, the sidewalks and parking lots are the areas that still need the most work, the report stated.

Completion of the building was initially scheduled for February 2009, but has been pushed back to March 2009.

“(Construction) is a little bit behind due to weather,” said Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management. “But it’s on budget.”

The project is expected to cost a total of $50 million, $37.5 million of which is from state appropriations. The remainder comes from the university’s budget.

This figure places the Education Building as one of the most expensive buildings on campus. It is second only to the renovations of the Charles V. Park Library, which cost more than $50.5 million in 2002.

DSA Architects, a branch of the SHW Group from Berkley, and Walsh Construction are the two companies working on the project.

Dan Sish, Walsh Construction assistant project manager, said the building has already cost $20 to $25 million to date.

Walsh Construction has also reported no safety issues, and only one injury.

“A mason was injured, three weeks ago now. A falling piece of iron hit him,” Sish said. “We had a Walsh representative in the hospital with him. He checked out OK, no broken bones.”

Last week, wall framings were installed and the north parking lot was paved.

Current work being done to the building includes exterior painting, drywall hanging, landscaping, roofing and installing glass walls.

“I think they’re doing a really nice job,” said Kelsey Stanton, a Grosse Pointe freshman. “It’s nice to see their progress. Before, it was just dirt.”

Sish said some areas of the building have been especially challenging to complete.

“I would say the lecture hall auditorium, the methods lab and the south outdoor learning center,” he said.

Once completed, the nearly 135,000- square-foot building will include a 200-seat auditorium and four laboratories for the child development department.

By the south-facing side of the building, there will be an outdoor learning center where students will be able to interact with kindergarten-aged children, put on puppet shows and have group readings.

The building will have fully-mediated classrooms, computer labs and wireless Internet throughout the facility.

As a seat to the College of Education and Human Services, the new facility will converge the different departments that are currently spread around campus, including counseling and special education, teacher education and professional development, educational leadership, human environmental studies and recreation, parks and leisure services administration.

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