Progress continues outside the building. Johnson Street is now open but work on Charter street on the west side of our block will continue until the end of November. The temporary access route from University Avenue to the loading dock will continue to be used until mid-November. Fencing has gone up around what used to be the Daniels atrium and around the brick house next to The Crossing. Doors and windows in the atrium are being removed so that construction materials can be brought into the building through the atrium.
Inside the building, in the north ends of Daniels floors B, 1 and 2, ceilings are being opened and temporary walls built so that utilities can be capped or re-routed outside the demolition zone. It is best to avoid these corridors if you can. Also, if you are teaching classes that meet in Daniels, warn your students. The work in Daniels corridors is preparation for construction of a new, permanent masonry wall that will separate the demolition/construction zone from the rest of our building.
There has been some noise in the corridors in Daniels as a result of the construction. Please contact John Moore (jwmoore@chem.wisc.edu) if you are aware of any noise or vibration problems. We are attempting to have noisy work scheduled to avoid exam times for classes that meet in room B371, but some noise is unavoidable in a construction project of this magnitude. Once the wall separating us from the construction zone is complete, we expect noise problems to be less.
This week asbestos abatement is occurring in rooms 2341, 1341, and B341, the abandoned teaching labs at the northeast end of Daniels, and in the abandoned classrooms at the north end of the basement. Expect to see Asbestos warning signs on plastic sheeting separating these areas from our building. Stay out of these areas!
This week or next we expect decommissioning of the computer network within the demolition/construction area. If you experience any network outage or other unexpected behavior, contact John Moore and Jeff Nielsen as well as CompHelp.
Soon, for a short time, there will be construction traffic between the Daniels atrium and the freight elevator on the first floor and between the freight elevator and the north end of the basement. Signs have been posted warning students not to sit on the floor in these areas. Please remind your students to complete their lab reports inside the laboratory or in the study room – not sitting on the floor in the corridor. Also, warn students to watch out for construction traffic.
There will also be construction traffic in the sub-basement. Room S345 will be a construction area and staging area. The autoclave and washer/dryer in S345 will continue to be accessible, but anyone in this part of the sub-basement needs to be vigilant for construction activities.
This was written at 4 pm Friday. As we get more information we will keep you posted.
John Moore and Bob McMahon