2008 Woodie Awards
Residence halls plagued by faulty construction
By: Kortny Hahn
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: News
Officials have begun coming up with a plan to address construction errors found in the campus' newest residence halls.
Several issues with Celani and Fabiano halls were discovered during and after the construction of the two residence halls.
Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management, said there are a number of problems, including undersized sanitary sewer pipes to the Fresh Food Restaurant, lack of drainage in several outside air intake pits and elevator machine room cooling.
"We have been experiencing numerous sanitary sewer plugs that require maintenance response due to undersized piping," Lawrence said. "Lack of drainage in air intake pits requires the pits be pumped periodically."
Lawrence said each of the problems are being evaluated and a corrective action will be implemented to fix the problems.
"All of the issues should be repaired by August 2008," Lawrence said.
At its December meeting, CMU's Board of Trustees approved a $400,000 allocation to cover the cost of repairing the problems.
"Mistakes in the buildings were made during oversights of design by the architect," said Trustee Gail Torreano during the meeting. "Architectural and engineering errors in the construction of Fabiano and Celani halls will require extensive maintenance work."
The lack of elevator equipment room cooling can cause the equipment to overheat and shut down an elevator. Another problem, inadequate outside drainage, also has resulted in frost heaving concrete stoops at several doors around the halls as well, Lawrence said.
Aaron Ebnit, project manager from Rockford Construction in Grand Rapids, said the company stands by its warranties and workmanship and they have worked well with CMU throughout the project.
"An experienced construction team like Rockford has the ability to work through construction challenges by, primarily, maintaining a good flow of communication between all parties involved," Ebnit said.
The construction of the halls began in April 2005, and was completed in September 2006.
"The project is a phased, multi-million renovation and addition," Ebnit said. "With any project of this scope and complexity, there will be challenges that face the construction team."
news@cm-life.com
Several issues with Celani and Fabiano halls were discovered during and after the construction of the two residence halls.
Steve Lawrence, associate vice president of Facilities Management, said there are a number of problems, including undersized sanitary sewer pipes to the Fresh Food Restaurant, lack of drainage in several outside air intake pits and elevator machine room cooling.
"We have been experiencing numerous sanitary sewer plugs that require maintenance response due to undersized piping," Lawrence said. "Lack of drainage in air intake pits requires the pits be pumped periodically."
Lawrence said each of the problems are being evaluated and a corrective action will be implemented to fix the problems.
"All of the issues should be repaired by August 2008," Lawrence said.
At its December meeting, CMU's Board of Trustees approved a $400,000 allocation to cover the cost of repairing the problems.
"Mistakes in the buildings were made during oversights of design by the architect," said Trustee Gail Torreano during the meeting. "Architectural and engineering errors in the construction of Fabiano and Celani halls will require extensive maintenance work."
The lack of elevator equipment room cooling can cause the equipment to overheat and shut down an elevator. Another problem, inadequate outside drainage, also has resulted in frost heaving concrete stoops at several doors around the halls as well, Lawrence said.
Aaron Ebnit, project manager from Rockford Construction in Grand Rapids, said the company stands by its warranties and workmanship and they have worked well with CMU throughout the project.
"An experienced construction team like Rockford has the ability to work through construction challenges by, primarily, maintaining a good flow of communication between all parties involved," Ebnit said.
The construction of the halls began in April 2005, and was completed in September 2006.
"The project is a phased, multi-million renovation and addition," Ebnit said. "With any project of this scope and complexity, there will be challenges that face the construction team."
news@cm-life.com
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