To ensure that the University of Connecticut (UCONN) system gained a reputation as one of the country’s leading educational facilities, in 1995 the state embarked on the UCONN 2000 project. Over the following 10 years, Connecticut would invest more than a billion dollars in the renovation, demolition and rebuilding and construction of a large number of university properties across the state.
The UCONN 2000 program resulted in more than two dozen new buildings, including a new chemistry building, new agricultural-biotech buildings, school of business, the Marine sciences building in Avery Point, the downtown Stamford campus, new music building, new residence halls including Hilltop Apartments, Hilltop Suites and South Campus and two new parking garages.
The UCONN 2000 program also has been responsible for millions of dollars of infrastructure improvements, including a new steam plant, new chiller plants, and sprinklers for the residence halls — all which have enabled the University to fund the equipment so critical to attracting top-notch researchers and grant funds.
Recently, Gov. John Rowland announced 21st Century UCONN. This $1.3-billion enterprise will continue the transformation of the University and its campuses. Such extensive building has provided a number of Connecticut architects, construction firms and contractors with significant contracts and years of work.
O&G Industries, of Torrington, CT, has benefited from this extensive University construction and development. Currently, it is working on two contracts at the main campus in Storrs. The first is a north campus utility extension project that began in October 2001 and is scheduled for completion in May 2003. O&G’s primary objective is to extend underground gas, electricity, telecommunications and sewer lines from the main campus one-half mile away to a new 10-acre student housing area.
O&G also is refurbishing a roadway 3,500 ft. (1,066 m), along with necessary drainage, to the student dorms and putting in code blue-911 boxes to the police and fire departments. Some of the many individuals involved with the project are John Olsen, project manager, Chris Rizy, project engineer, Ray Dzen, superintendent, and George Kraus, UCONN director of design, planning and construction.
This project at Central Warehouse in a very busy section of campus started with minor challenges. For two months, a policeman had to reroute and direct traffic. Some utilities are approximately 20 ft. (6 m) under the new roadway. In total O&G moved 30,000 cu. yds. (22,937 cu m) of dirt for trench and roadwork. O&G completed all utility layout, including the electrical work with the help of C&H Electrical of Waterbury.
Dzen said that O&G mostly relies on its Caterpillars, including the 345 excavator, 966 loader, D6 bulldozer and three smaller excavators, as well as the Volvo earth hauler and Blaw-Knox paving unit. It also counted on its ARL pipe laser and “an array of small support equipment such as pipe lasers, compaction equipment, and survey equipment.”
Mother nature was the only thing that O&G could not control. As many firms across the country have realized, this winter was harsher than earlier ones. Last year, New England’s winter was extremely mild. Very little snow fell and temperatures rarely sunk to single digits. This year, snow came in time for Thanksgiving and by the end of 2002 the region had already seen three very heavy falls as well as below-freezing wind chills. This, naturally, has slowed progress. O&G cleaned up the snow as quickly as possible and kept on working to meet deadline.
While some O&G people shoveled dirt and snow in the northern campus, others were completing work on the new Information and Engineering Technology building site. This five-story 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935 sq m), $32-million facility is being developed “to galvanize research and academic programs in the information technology area,” said a school press release. When completed this June, it will have 27 research labs, several other design and hardware laboratories, two administrative suites, a 2,600-sq.-ft. conference room and a 2,000-sq.-ft. learning center, as well as a 350-seat underground auditorium.
O&G took down a 15-ft. (4.6 m) hill to ready the land and put in necessary utilities. In total, “We moved 33,000 yards of material,” said Job Superintendent John Trudel. “We had to do 30-foot cuts to clear the way for the underground auditorium,” added Olsen.
Space, or the lack thereof, was another challenge. The building is sitting on 2 acres in the middle of the campus. It took a considerable amount of coordination, communication and logistics to keep from getting bottlenecks. Only so many vehicles could be on the site at one time. As some left, others took their place.
Other site work included extensive telecommunication utilities, redoing of drainage, a utility tunnel running along side the building, a walkway from the building to the parking garage and library, outside lighting and walkways around the facility.
O&G again primarily used its Cat equipment, such as a 966 loader, in addition to the Grove and 150-ft.-boom (45.7 m), Manitowoc cranes and Lowell forklifts. Whenever any machinery broke down, the company relied on its own maintenance team that was set up at the site.
Despite the challenges of the recent wintry weather, O&G is endeavoring to meet the UCONN’s request for opening the building for business in the spring semester.
