As the spring semester comes to an end, UT Campus Planning & Project Management workers are preparing for their busiest time of the year with multiple construction projects underway around campus.
Construction on the South End Zone of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium began this week, and Capital Planning and Construction will also continue renovations on Welch Hall over the summer, said Jim Shackelford, director of Capital Planning and Construction.
“You probably won’t see a lot of change to the exterior (of Welch) during the course of the summer because all the work right now is inside the building,” Shackelford said. “That project will be complete in January of next year.”
Shackelford said the new Energy Engineering Building, located where Woolrich Labs previously stood, will also see progress over the summer.
“If you have walked by that site recently, you’ve seen a building that’s being demolished,” Shackelford said. “So we will complete the demolition during the summer and begin construction of the new building during the summer.”
Jill Stewart, associate director of Project Management and Construction Services, said the new Admissions Welcome Center located on the first floor of the Perry-Castañeda Library and the Texas One Stop for Enrollment Services Center in the Main Building are scheduled to be completed over the summer.
“We’ve punched a hole in the side of PCL that’s facing toward the lawn on the south side, and that’s where the new entrance for the welcome center will be,” Stewart said. “We’ve already started some preliminary work on the one-stop center in the Main Building which is going to be a combination of registrar, admissions and financial aid services.”
Finance junior Zak Kuzbari said he is glad these two student-focused projects will be available in the fall.
“I remember going to the old admissions center when I went on tour my junior year (of high school) and it was so random, and I’ve never even been to that building now that I’m at UT,” Kuzbari said. “The new center is a great idea.”
Because there aren’t many students on campus over the summer, this is when Construction Services will also renovate classrooms. The schedule for academic building renovations is determined by the Provost’s office, Stewart said.
“We have some academic spaces that we’re renovating in the College of Fine Arts, and we are changing out the main mechanical units for the Bates Recital Hall and updating the Payne Theatre in the Winship Building,” Stewart said. “Last summer we did some classroom renovations in Burdine Hall, and this year we have a phase two of that.”
Construction Services is also working on a number of other projects for Texas Athletics, including a player-development addition at UFCU Disch-Falk Field and an outdoor pool at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
“It’s a very busy but pretty typical summer for us,” Stewart said. “Kind of a nice variety of projects, and sort of hitting all corners of campus.”
