College of Education remodel, student-centered space
Coming next summer, the building where University of Idaho students are taught to become the world’s future educators will be new and asbestos-free.
Renovations on the College of Education building began in August and are currently in phase one of two, said Guy Esser, UI Facilities project manager.
He said the primary focus of phase one is asbestos abatement, which is being performed by Wright Brothers, The Building Company. Asbestos is a substance previously used in construction to strengthen and insulate materials, but is now known to cause an increased risk of mesothelioma, he said.
Esser said the asbestos abatement is about 60 percent complete, with a mid-May end date. Phase one was originally scheduled to end in March, but a slow start caused some delays, Esser said. Because of a refined phase two schedule, he said the project completion timeline is still in tact.
“They literally have to scrape all the asbestos off,” said Corinne Mantle-Bromley, dean of the College of Education.
Esser said floors four and five are almost completely free of asbestos and work is beginning on the first floor.
“The main hurdles have been, from the contractors side, figuring out the best sequence for demolition on the floors,” Esser said. “There was some planning and some trial and error on how to attack the demolition sequencing.”
He said floor four abatement took about half the time as floor five.
The renovation is partially state-funded, with $7 million in state funds and $7.5 million from UI bonds. Mantle-Bromley said $2.66 million in private donations was raised to supplement the budget for phase one. She said the goal is to raise another $2.34 million to provide new furnishings and technology.
“If our donors hadn’t been really generous, there wouldn’t have been one change to the floor plan,” Mantle-Bromley said. “We were able to raise enough money that every wall went out.”
Mantle-Bromley said the last step of phase one is to remove the exterior stone panels and windows. The panels contain asbestos and their removal will complete the abatement, Esser said.
The windows in the exterior panels lost their seal, allowing nature to come in, Esser said. The side panels will be replaced with glass.
“No one used refrigerators, because you could just put your lunch by the window and it would stay cold,” Mantle-Bromley said.
With the addition of the glass, she said parts of the building would be see-through.
Phase two is expected to commence immediately after phase one ends. Esser said advertisements for bids for phase two are released Jan. 26, and he expects to open the bid Feb. 24.
“Once we open those bids, we’ll know if we’re in budget,” Esser said.
The project aims to become a leader in energy and environmental design and LEED certified, Mantle-Bromley said.
As part of the effort to become certified, materials from the building must be recycled and new materials must come from local or regional sources, she said.
“It’s kind of the standard the industry is going to,” Esser said. “It’s good marketing for the university to show they’re following current energy conservation trends.”
Esser said there is an additional cost to apply and be certified, dependent on project size.
“It does raise costs a little bit, because there’s more work for the contractor to do,” he said.
Mantle-Bromley said the new design for the building has a student-focus, and will create areas for students to spend time before and after class.
The current design contains seven classrooms, three for primary use by the College of Education, conference rooms and “team rooms,” Mantle-Bromley said.
She said three “super high-tech” classrooms are planned, along with a conference room with video technology for distance learning.
“We’re really trying to build this for the future,” she said. “But we’re also trying to make things flexible enough that when things change in 20 to 30 years, we’re not locked in.”
Esser said the planning committee will look at technology packages in the coming year.
Mantle-Bromley said the design of the building, furniture and technology, is budget dependent and if their target donation level is not met, the old furniture will be returned to the building or some wanted technology may be missing.
The majority of the construction should be completed by March 2016, Esser said. The focus will then be on installing furniture and technology before moving back into the building the following June, he said.
Katelyn Hilsenbeck can be reached at [email protected]