Progress on the construction of a new veterinary school building is continuing smoothly, as the $70.7 million project is set to be completed next summer.
The 120,000-square-foot building, which will be located at 38th Street and Baltimore Avenue, will house several classrooms as well as research laboratories and conference areas.
When the building is completed, there will be two floors designated for teaching and two lecture halls that can fit 130 students each.
"The plan is for a lounge area, a new library, four conference rooms and some small study rooms as well," Physiology professor and project liaison Richard Davies said.
The top two floors will be strictly devoted to laboratory and research purposes.
The building will expand the School of Veterinary Medicine's facilities and provide more research opportunities for students. Previously, the school shared some facilities with the veterinary hospital and the medical school.
"It is progressing well, and we are still set for an opening in August of 2006," Davies said. "But we will probably move in before the work is completed."
Before work on the actual building could begin, workers spent last summer realigning the road system to accommodate the building and improve the safety of the intersection.
"We are actually right on schedule with the project," Managing Director of Facilities Design and Construction Mark Wilson said. "We may have lost a day or two to weather, but we anticipate catching up."
Wilson also said that the project is still within the first budget projections.
"We are still on budget, even though it is not the easiest environment since prices have skyrocketed over the last 12 months," Wilson said.
The building is out of the ground, and foundation work is being started.
"We have recently finished the mat slab pour, and we are doing foundation work now," Wilson said.
Mat slab is a four- to five-foot-thick concrete base that constitutes most of the groundwork of the building and supports the columns and foundation walls.
"The mass of the slab keeps the building anchored, and we are completely waterproofing the basement," Wilson said.
The construction process' next step, which will start next week, includes putting up the steel columns and floor decks.
According to Wilson, the construction has not greatly impeded traffic at the 38th and Baltimore intersection.
"We knew there were going to be days when we pour [concrete] all day, and we tried to send out notice to everyone, but it hasn't been that bad," Wilson said.
