Renee Ballenger
Editor
Facilities Management and Planning continue executing major construction projects across campus that will improve both the physical facilities and academic offerings for students.
The demolition of Mary Morse Lecture Hall is scheduled to begin during spring break–the week of March 17-21. The replaced space will contain offices for Health Sciences, four classrooms (seating up to 48 each) and a new planetarium.
Also beginning that week will be the construction of the dividing walls within Bruner Hall–the first step in the renovation of Bruner. Construction work will be completed first in the east portion of the building, while the west portion remains in operation. Then, in December, west-side functions will be moved to the completed east side.
The start dates for construction on the sanitary sewer section west of Cushing Coliseum and the Health & Sports Center, previously set for March 10, have been delayed to a later date yet to be determined. Refer to the Construction update Web site at http://www.unk.edu/offices/facilities/ index.php?id=20552&eklist=centralutility for updates on all major construction projects. To access this site, click on the rotating photo titled “On the Move” in the upper left area of the UNK homepage. Then choose the Planning, Space Management & Constructions link in the left-hand column.
Also related to the UNK Tunnels Project—an extensive, multi-phased construction effort to develop a centralized heating and water distribution system—is the construction of a new electrical substation. NPPD is currently erecting this facility next to the spillway. Construction on the new combined boiler and chiller facility is scheduled to begin the first week of March.
Further, the timing of the campus-wide electrical outage necessary to complete transfer of campus power to NPPD’s new electrical substation, has been changed, and the length of the scheduled outage significantly reduced.
Originally, the outage was scheduled for May 10-12. The new schedule, however, will include two outage periods: one from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday,May 10, and a second from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday,May 25. Temporary overhead lines will be installed during spring break through Lots 11 and 12 to points near Randall Hall and the Otto Olsen Building, and through Lot 20 to a point near Nineteenth Avenue and University Drive. These temporary lines will be energized and de-energized during the May outage dates as well.
