The Pioneer construction team and their subcontractors have started to pour a new foundation on the north side of Hiemenga Hall and construction progresses across campus.
The north side once boasted an external staircase. That staircase was removed “in order to expand the lower level of Hiemenga Hall, which will be connected to the 200-level ground floor of the library (Peet’s level) through a new tunnel,” Sarah Visser, executive vice president for student experience and strategy, told Chimes in an email.
This week, contractors were brought in for “a day or two” to work on waterproofing the outside of the new foundation, according to workers at the site.
Work continues on the interior of the library and is progressing on schedule. There have been few weather delays during the construction because most work on the learner’s common — phase one of the commons union project — is indoors, according to Visser.
Noise disruptions have been “minimal,” according to Jae Yang, a religion professor with an office near the construction. “There was one day in which the noise was noticeable, but other than [that] day, I have not had any distractions,” he said.
For Leah Gooding, a student library worker, moving due to construction was “an adjustment,” but currently there is not much interference. “There’s a lot of like, hammering and sawing … but it hasn’t been too bad, just certain shifts they happen to be working right below me or something,” Gooding said.
Construction of the cadaver lab in DeVries Hall is “currently running ahead of schedule,” Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Dirk Pruis told Chimes in an email. Demolition began after exams were completed in December and “construction on the space began in early January,” according to Pruis.
Finally, phase two of the athletics construction plan has begun and includes a soccer stadium and a football building, both of which will be heated and cooled with a geothermal energy system, which, according to an email from Pruis, will consist of “two small fields of vertical loops adjacent to the buildings.”
Sustainability measures factor into other construction projects as well, according to Visser. “There are some heating and cooling and energy efficiency upgrades that we are making in the renovated library space,” she said. “We are also pursuing LEED certification for phase two of the Commons Union, which is in the midst of being designed.”
As of September 2023, phase two of the commons union project is “nearing design completion and is dependent on further funding to proceed,” Pruis told Chimes in an email, and further construction depends on funds raised during the upcoming capital campaign.
