Summer construction, renovation and repairs are underway

From road and roof repairs to ramp and pump installations, the summer “to do” list for Facilities Engineering and Planning (FE&P) will keep crews busy while Rice undergraduates are away.

Bart Salmon, assistant vice president for facilities, gave an overview of the summer maintenance projects at the May 15 Administrators’ Forum.

This rendering shows the planned handicapped-accessible ramp that will be built at Sewall Hall, where the university’s Welcome Center is now located.

Among the projects that are planned:

• Replacing the domestic water booster pumps in McNair Hall and installing a bypass option for better reliability if a pump shuts down.
• Replacing pavement and repairing curbs along various roads across campus, including Loop Road and Alumni Drive by Entrance 8.
• Repairing sidewalks near Herzstein and Herring halls, in the Academic Quad near Anderson Hall and near Baker Hall on Alumni Drive.
• Replacing carpet in Alice Pratt Brown Hall, Huff House and other buildings.
• Applying a special coating on the flat roofs on Dell Butcher Hall and repairing and coating the low-sloped roofs and terraces on Duncan Hall.
• Waterproofing the north elevation of the Gibbs Wellness and Recreation Center.
• Modernizing elevators in Brown and Sid Richardson colleges.
• Refreshing — including painting — classrooms and conference rooms in Keck, Duncan, Rayzor and Herman Brown halls and the Humanities Building.

Kathy Jones, associate vice president for FE&P, gave a presentation on capital projects and renovations that will be underway for the summer, including the following:

• Construction of the Rice University Music and Performing Arts Center will continue. Eleni Barzouka is the project manager. The building is expected to be completed in time for move-in by July 2020.
• Renovation of the Space Science and Technology Building, including the addition of a clean room, is expected to be completed in time for an August move-in. Kelly Buehler is the project manager.
• Build-out of the sixth floor of the BioScience Research Collaborative for new bioengineering faculty was substantially completed in April, and the remainder of the project should be finished by early summer. George Ristow is the project manager.
• Substantial completion of the Rice Holistic Garden south of the Rice Media Center should be done in May. Larry Vossler is the project manager.
• Relocation of the Mark di Suvero sculpture “Po-um” to the landscape north of the Moody Center for the Arts should be finished in May. Anzilla Gilmore is the project manager.
• Several renovations are taking place in McNair Hall. Work on the Anderson Family Commons should be done in August; renovations to the rotunda and Executive MBA Suite should be completed by December. Bob Nguyen is the project manager.
• Handicapped-accessible ramps are being installed at Sewall and Herzstein halls. Tina Hicks is the project manager for the ramp at Sewall; Joe Buchanan and Matt Hoffman are the project managers for the ramp at Herzstein.
• A city of Houston waterline across campus should be replaced before students return in August. Elmer Whitehead is the project manager.
• Progress is being made on plans for a building for the School of Social Sciences. Vossler is the project manager.
• A new magister house for Will Rice College will be located near the magister house for Baker College. Design is underway and construction is expected to be completed by August 2019. Gilmore is the project manager.
• The FE&P training center will be torn down to make room for a new building for 15 kV switchgear that replaces the current switchgear building. Jason Hochstein is the project manager.