Summer 2007

Construction Update

Farmer School of Business Makes Footprint

With the bidding stages complete and the paperwork in order, the ground has quite literally begun to move at the future home of the Farmer School of Business.

According to project manager John Seibert, all contracts were issued for the $40 million state-of-the-art building on May 15, and the site has been buzzing with activity ever since.

"The first objective was to mobilize by making the site construction ready," Seibert said. "This entailed establishing the limits of construction with protective fencing, staging job site trailers and establishing routes for pickups and deliveries within the site. Then it was a matter of setting up the temporary power, lighting, data and other necessary utilities required by the construction crews."

With that infrastructure in place, work is underway to establish the massive footprint of a building that will house all six departments of Miami's Farmer School of Business. The final remnants of the former Reid Hall have been removed, and an impressive operation of moving earth to make room for the building's foundation is well underway.

"We've moved 47,000 cubic yards of dirt to this point, and we have about another 10,000 cubic yards to go," Seibert said. "This large amount of dirt and rock has to be excavated because the facility has a full basement which houses a large portion of the classrooms and major mechanical rooms."

With the excavation ahead of schedule and the concrete beginning to pour, the structure is progressing rapidly toward a November deadline for completion of the foundation walls. Once those are in place, steel will be brought in and the structure will begin to take shape above ground. The scheduled duration of the construction phase is 720 days, meaning the structure is scheduled to be in place and ready for finishing work by May 4, 2009.

A little further west on High Street, renovations to Benton Hall, part of the new Engineering Complex, continue to progress toward a January deadline.The re-roofing of the structure is completed and work on the interior is progressing smoothly with the majority of interior walls in place.

Other significant projects taking place around the Oxford campus include the renovation of Presser Hall, which is receiving a new roof and addition to better accommodate the music department; and Warfield Hall, which is receiving a complete renovation including plumbing, electrical, fire protection and more. Work also is in the early stages for the new North Campus Parking garage at the site of the former Goggin Ice Arena.

Nearly 60,000 cubic yards of dirt are being moved to
establish the footprint for Miami's new business school.