Who's who?

OK, we've entered what might be the Minnesota dog days of summer. What are the main characteristics? Morning dew points over 70 f. The main sound one hears while reading on the deck at 10:30 PM is the collection of neighborhood air-conditioners. And - the whole town smells like corn. You have to be here to get that one.

Given all that, it's sort of hard to blog, or really do much of anything. Although - I did manage to run around the countryside smelling said corn on my new Harley Street Glide last night just at sun down, and that was refreshing.

Topic for today - who’s who?

Hundreds of people have worked on Regents Hall so it's hard to get up close and personal with too many. A few groups have been especially important and I'll try to acknowledge some today.

The Design Team has been together for a while now, and has done great work shaping spaces that remove barriers to their pedagogical aspirations. The team’s original charge was development of the space program the designers would respond to, but they have stayed on and been helpful with all phases of the project. They’ve worked with their departments, the planners and programmers, the architects, engineers and the Design-Build Team, and taken on very different roles than their normal charges. I believe they’ve learned maybe as much as they’ve contributed – and they’ve contributed immensely. The whole college gets stronger when people can help shape their environments.

The team includes representatives from each of the five departments – biologists Anne Walter and Charles Umbanhowar, Jr. , Chemists Mary Walczak and Paul Jackson, Matt Richey from mathematics and computer science, physicist Dave Nitz, and psychologist Chuck Huff. In addition, three students provided valuable input and reactions. They are Ian Campbell '07, Ian Vaagenes '07, and Kristen Roys '07.

Assistant Provost Arnie Ostebee, Registrar Mary Cisar, and Assistant Vice-President for Facilities Pete Sandberg are an integral part of the design team.

The Design-Build Team includes Boldt Construction staffers: Jim McConachie, senior blah, blah, blah; Kelly Newman, superintendent; Dave Jeffers, mechanical engineer from Boldt Technical Services; Scott Morton, senior estimator; Eric Siebers, LEED specialist; Bob Huber, senior scheduler; Josh Christianson, field engineer; and Cheryl Spartz, office manager.

In addition, the team includes St. Olaf Facilities staff: Perry Kruse ‘69, assistant director of facilities for engineering; Bill Nelson ’73, assistant director of facilities for building services, Craig Dunton, director of telecommunications, and James Fisher, grounds manager. Other St. Olaf folks come and go as their area is in focus and they include: Tony Skalski, Roberta Lembke, and Dana Thompson, of Information and Instructional Technologies, Katie McKenna and Peter Abrahamson, Bon Appetit.

Very many of Holabird and Root’s architects and engineers contributed throughout, but the lead persons are: James Baird, principal; Ernie Wagner, project manager; Greg Grunloh, project architect; Ryan Kosmicki, interiors; Chyanne Hauser, architect; Jerry Abernathy, electrical engineer, Mike Luster and Brett Gordon, mechanical engineers, and Greg Olson, plumbing designer.

Because this is a Design-Build project, representatives from the mechanical and electrical contractors, and the laboratory equipment supplier were included from the start, and to a great extent, helped design the systems they’ve since constructed.

You think this is going to be done in HOW many days?

(Answer - it depends, either 18 or 36)

I'm Pete Sandberg, assistant vice president for facilities at St. Olaf College. It's a Monday and I'm trying retrain myself after a four day weekend "vacation". We're going to be blogging during the countdown to Regents Hall coming on line, and I hope you find it interesting. Feel free to write with comments or something you'd like to know about. By the way - it is Regents Hall, not Regent's, or Regents'. Like our Kings Room it is plural but not possessive!

There are 18 days until we hope to get a conditional Certificate of Occupancy for Regents Hall at St. Olaf College on August 15. A conditional certificate allows us to move in and do some things, but with conditions. We hope to get a final Certificate of Occupancy another 18 days later on September 2. Conditional lets us move in and get things set up. The actual work of professors and support staff cannot begin until we have the final CO. I know, it's science, but CO is Certificate of Occupancy, not carbon monoxide!

The 2nd is a pretty important date because classes begin on the 4th, and once we set off down the moving road everything and everyone is committed to being able to teach and learn on the 4th.

So, with 18 or 36 days to go, what all is happening? The short answer is - everything! Literally every trade that has ever been on the job is still on it, or in some cases, is on it again. Maybe 150 people are in, on, or around the building every day this week.

Most spaces in the west wing are nearing completion. Today crews are pulling together the far west classrooms that are in each of the top three floors. Once those and the west atrium are complete we will be able to begin final cleaning and finishing of surfaces. The labs are largely complete, and finishing touches are underway for the faculty offices.

The central atrium made a great deal of progress over the last week, and while there is plenty to do you can see today that it will house a collection of some of the best spaces on campus. In particular, the 400 level (top floor) study-lounge spaces just outside the entry to the rooftop greenhouse on the east wing has striking views of Norway Valley, the Cannon River Valley, and Northfield. The 100 level of the center atrium is also student study-lounge space, and it serves the adjacent Science Library as well as providing reception space for one of the many speakers who will present in the large lecture hall that is contiguous with it. The south half of the 200 level is a coffee shop with seating literally out in Norway Valley. The north side of this space is still more group study are. The 300 level south is a large conference room that projects out into the Valley and is actually surrounded by glazing.

Even our jaded construction professionals get excited in some spaces and can see that we'll make our dates. Then, a walk down another corridor may have the same group shaking their heads wondering why they ever promised whatever it was they committed to. This situation is just the nature of our beast.

Why the great big rush?

We did a ton of early work to move the construction start, and so, occupancy, forward a full year. With the exploding construction material market and commodity futures going off the charts, this brave decision of the board of regents made it possible to do the work within the funding levels we'd identified while projects all over the country went off the rails. In fact, at a recent conference, a team from St. Olaf heard prominent architects who specialize in science say that they felt it was impossible to do much at all for a science building with less than $450 per square foot.

Regents Hall is likely to achieve LEED Platinum status, and be a beautiful St. Olaf building, for about $320 per square foot and this is a tremendous achievement

When we approached our lead team from Boldt Construction with a scenario that moved things 365 days closer, they rolled up their sleeves, went through everything possible, and said that it could be done. The lead sub contractors readily agreed to give it a try, as did the architects and engineers of Holabird and Root.

Everyone involved knew at the start that we'd be in just about exactly the spot we are in this week, so most are fairly sanguine. Still - many are also in the start up phase of the sleepless nights that will take them through the CO.

Luckily, there is still a great esprits de corps on the site, and that has been one of the strongest features of the job to date. From the wonderful faculty design team, through the design-build team of St. Olaf facilities folks, Boldt staff, Holabird and Root architects and engineers,the lead sub-contractors, and really all of the contractors who've had anything to do with the job, everyone is sort of in love with the project and working to do their best for St. Olaf.