2016 summer projects for Facilities Management

Although summer is often a quieter time on campus for many, it is when Facilities Management’s work increases. Summer is a focused time to accomplish many projects in a limited timeframe. This summer was no different, as Facilities Management employees went right to work on quite a few projects.  We have captured a few to highlight:

East Campus Lock Project – Manchester Hall, Hewett Hall, and Vrooman received a new, patented security system for their locks.  The reason for this update is simple – security.  University Housing Services and Facilities Management worked together with multiple planning meetings and many meetings during the implementation to ensure everything was on track and installed in a timely manner.  Through the summer, four carpenters worked daily to build 6,010 individual interchangeable cores for each lock and cut 6,400 keys.  To complete the project, carpenters were on-site to remove the old and install the new core for each lock within East Campus.  Timing was very important to ensure the building was ready for the students to move back in, yet to not disturb the international students that were living in East Campus this summer.  University Housing and Facilities Management have met to discuss successes, changes needed and lessons learned for future core replacements.

Wood Floor Refinish Project – Building service workers are typically seen cleaning spaces across campus, but there are some areas of expertise as well.  There are nine building service workers that are specifically trained to refinish wood flooring, which they complete along with their regular tasks.  This summer the focus was on the stages at Metcalf Lab School and Kemp Recital Hall in Centennial East.  Completing these small, wood-floor refinishing projects with in-house staff is more cost effective and adds to our expertise and knowledge base.  Building service workers will be looking to refinish additional wood floors in the future, as they have in the Office of the President and Felmley Hall.  Facilities Management is also responsible for refinishing the large and small gym floors in the Lab Schools, which was completed this summer by a contractor.

Julian Hall Landscape Project – Facilities Management not only maintains the grounds, but works to improve the campus aesthetics.  The south side of Julian Hall had some deteriorating pear trees that needed to be removed.  Patrick Murphy and Larry Milby designed a new landscape plan that included new sod, plants, trees and a nice brick to outline the planting beds.  In addition, a new sidewalk and brick-colored stamped asphalt was installed along North and School streets by contractors.

Watterson Towers Painting Project – As part of the University Housing Capital Plan, the residence hall interiors are on a rotation to be freshly painted.  This summer it was Watterson Towers North Tower that had all of the student living spaces painted.  For such a large job, Facilities Management oversaw the project through the use of contractors, in-house and extra help painters.  It is important to be prepared because painters were on-site from the time students moved out for the summer to about a week before they returned.  Through this regular painting, the goal is to create a nice, clean space to assist with recruitment efforts and for our students to call his/her own while Illinois State is “home.”

Facilities Management works with departments to create an efficient summer project plan to complete as much as possible during the limited time. Some of the other projects completed this summer include: