Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter –
The completion of the renovation on the Southern Connecticut State University Buley Library is continuing to advance along.
According to Robert Sheeley, the construction on the library will possibly begin in the late spring or early summer of this year. Sheeley, the Associate Vice President for Capital Budgeting and Facilities Operations at Southern, said the bids from the subcontractors vying to work on the library are due at the end of this month.
“The Construction Manager at Risk then has to review all the subcontractor bids, select a sub for each division of the project,” Sheeley said, “and put all the cost together to give the state a gross maximum price to complete the project.”
Students walk past the library with construction still going on throughout the semester.
Once that is complete, Sheeley said, a contract with the Construction Manager at Risk agreed that the gross maximum price given by the state of Connecticut must be accepted for the Construction Manager at Risk to finalize the agreement and further the library renovation project.
Sheeley said the Construction Manager at Risk for the Buley Library is Skanska USA; who will be responsible for its construction.
Skanska USA describes itself as one of the country’s largest financially sound development and construction companies. It aims for complete satisfaction with their clients by focusing on building strong partnerships and mutual solutions that last throughout construction. The company has developed and constructed many prominent buildings in the United States; including MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York, and closer to Southern, the IKEA retail facility on Long Wharf in New Haven.
The planned renovations for the library include a learning commons area, all-purpose classroom space, information technologies offices, faculty offices, and an adaptive technology area. Furthermore, the revamped library will house Southern’s art collection, which is planned to be displayed throughout the improved library. The new and improved Buley Library is planned to contain a Faculty Development Center, a study area for graduate students and a portion of Southern’s data center.
Many Southern students are happy to hear that the construction of the library renovation is finally coming along.
Senior Matt Ursone said he wished the project was completed while he was still attending Southern but was glad it will be finished sooner rather than later.
Work continues at Buley library with majority of the construction taking place in the location of the old library.
“It’s good to hear that they’re making progress on the remodeled library,” Ursone said. “It seemed pretty dour there for awhile.”
Ursone said he has spent plenty of time in the current version of the library in his time at Southern.
“Oh, I have always taken advantage of the library either using the computers or borrowing books I needed for term papers,” he said. “A lot of times when I was walking out, down the ramp, I would look over at the construction site and think, damn, is that ever going to be finished?”
Junior Christian Spencer said he is pleased that the renovation is advancing.
“The planned improvements that the library will have sound great,” Spencer said. “The addition of classrooms will be good, and just the fact that there will be a library of that size on campus will be outstanding.”
But Spencer is also weary of this development with the library renovation.
“Of course, then again, the construction will probably be complete the semester after I graduate,” he said laughing.
Construction moves along during winter break. Portions of the old library begin to be closed off for work to continue into the semester and summer.
Nice article. It is really nice to hear about the construction of such a gigantic library. It is looking great in the images. It is simply great to learn about such library.