 "Photo: photo by Steve Anderson UCD Advocate")
 "Photo: photo by Steve Anderson UCD Advocate")
As classes begin and the campus bursts with students once more, one building remains empty. The new science building will open this fall, but only for faculty offices to begin moving in. Delays from last summer have prevented classes to begin there until January 2010.
Ken Ross, Auraria director of facilities management, remains hopeful that the long-term schedule for completing the tri-institutional consolidation of science departments into a new building and renovating the existing structure by fall of 2010 has not been compromised because of delays.
In summer of 2008, construction workers encountered asbestos in the old building, causing an important and costly delay. The removal took two months and added $3 million to the budget, raising the grand total to $111.4 million.
“They were overly optimistic that they could make up time,” said Ross.
Classes won’t be held there this fall as originally planned. And the initial move of just office occupants into the first floor of the addition has been postponed until November.
According to John Everman, project manager at Anderson Mason Dale architects, the building was designed to be occupied in stages.
The first floor was scheduled to open before fall semester began so that materials could be moved out of the old building and into the new building. Renovations would then begin on the old building. Over the next nine months, occupants of other floors would gradually move in.
The project will consolidate classrooms, labs, and offices for science departments from all three institutions at Auraria. This centralization will integrate and expand facilities for the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Anthropology, Earth Sciences, and Math and Computer Sciences.
By August 2010, construction of the new addition and renovations to the old building, as well as the North and South Classroom buildings, are expected to be complete.
According to Joyce Carnes, project manager at Jacobs Engineering, the firm overseeing the project, classrooms and labs will begin to move from the existing building into the new addition over Thanksgiving break.
Four CCD labs will also relocate from the South Classroom at that time. Classes will begin in the new science building in January 2010. Renovations to the North Classroom Building will begin in April 2010.
Some classes will be held within the addition during the renovation portion of the project, creating extra capacity for science departments.
“Some 50-person classrooms will be reduced to roughly 20-person classrooms while the renovation occurs to allow for additional classroom space on campus,” said Mike Turman, the project’s assistant manager from Jacobs Engineering. “Faculty will also be moved into either final or temporary office locations in the addition during the renovation.”
Some faculty members consider the inconvenience worth it due to its long-term benefits.
“Having a building specifically designed for science will greatly enhance faculty and student research, and allow the Department of Integrative Biology to offer modern teaching labs,” said Dr. Greg Cronin, associate professor of Integrative Biology.
“The process through which the campus developed and is creating the new science building has been remarkable in the fact that it involved faculty, departments, and priorities from Metro and UCD,” said Dr. Mary Coussons-Read, acting chair of the Department of Physics. “It represents a new campus commitment to excellence in science education and research, and will be a transformation for the campus.”
Students may greatly benefit from the project for both academic and health reasons.
According to facts released by the Auraria Higher Education Center, labs in the old science building have been closed due to insufficient ventilation, a byproduct of outdated systems.
The student body has also grown 250 percent since the building’s construction almost 40 years ago, causing congestion in some classrooms.
According to figures from AHEC, one fifth of Colorado college students attend class at Auraria. Colorado leads all 50 states in its concentration of workers in scientific and technological industries, and many of those students may go on to careers in those fields.
The completed four-story structure, which borders Speer Boulevard and downtown, encourages Denver residents to recognize UCD’s significance as a source for scientific research, according to the AHEC website. The large windows offer passersby a glimpse into the projects undertaken by Auraria’s students.
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