Brian Peach
Daily Egyptian
Eight-foot stacks of empty computer boxes and a 3-by-12 foot pile of gray carpeting are a couple elements that have turned the fourth floor of Quigley Hall into an unsightly mess.
And with newly developed problems, the mess isn't going anywhere for a while.
Thomas Construction out of Marion was hired to renovate the upper floor of Quigley Hall, but after 90 percent of the demolition was completed, they were forced to file for bankruptcy July 10. This leaves the University with the task of hiring a new company to finish a project that was supposed to be done by Aug. 1.
Terry Owens, the chairman of the SIUC Department of Architecture and Interior Design, is one of a dozen faculty members who normally works on the fourth floor of Quigley Hall, but have been residing on the third floor since demolition began about three weeks ago.
The faculty members were told they would be back upstairs by the start of the fall semester. But with the construction problems, they will be forced to find alternate offices to work in.
Owens said the curriculum and instruction and the fashion and merchandising personnel in Quigley have extra space in their offices and offered it to accommodate them during the inconvenience.
"We'll be working with Plant and Service Operations to setup operations in this building or another on campus," Owens said. "I'm confident that we'll be operational by fall semester."
Owens said the construction work was being done in Quigley Hall in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The University applied for a state grant to comply with the act because some bathrooms and doors in Quigley Hall were not handicapped accessible.
Thomas Construction came in and removed many of the doors and tore up the bathrooms before its bankruptcy. In the demolition process, old tile floors made with asbestos, a carcinogen, were broken and had to be removed because the asbestos fibers were being released into the air.
Owens said all the old carpeting has been removed and will be replaced because of the new doors.
"Instead of putting down little patches of carpet under the new doors, they're just going to recarpet everything," Owens said.
Men's and women's bathrooms throughout the building are being updated as well, and a new ramp leading into the main lobby was to be built.
The Thomas Construction bankruptcy was not the only problem this project has seen. Halfway through the design portion of the project, Walker/Baker Architecture out of Harrisburg split up, and a new designer had to be hired. White and Borgognoni Architects in Carbondale picked up the job.
Phil Gatton, director of Plant and Service Operations, said the Illinois Capitol Development Board is overseeing construction of the project, while physical plant operators are lending a helping hand with the project.
"We're like another set of eyes here," Gatton said. "We make sure the University's best interests are kept in mind."
A couple ways the physical plant helps the University is by coordinating between departments in Quigley and assisting in moving people out of their offices and relocating them.
The Capitol Development Board, which oversees major public projects including those in a public university such as SIUC, is working on finding a new bidder for the construction.
"The work will get done," Owens said. "It just won't be as soon as we thought."
Reporter Brian Peach can be reached at bpeach@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
