Campus Sees Busy Summer Construction

From the Lamont Health Center to a new outdoor Harkness table, Exeter's Facilities Management team pursued a handful of projects over the summer.Lamont Health and Wellness CenterRenovating the medical and counseling services at Lamont Health and Wellness Center will last through September, although the building will be ready for health classes to resume this week.“[The delay] is going to be short-term, for just the first two to three weeks of school, probably,” Director of Facilities Management Roger Wakeman said. “We don’t anticipate that it’s going to be a problem. We operated that way for the whole term in the spring.”Construction on the building started last spring, when trailers were set up in front of the site to temporarily accommodate sick students. Due to weather delays and complications, makeshift facilities will still be used for health services for the beginning of the fall term.“It was a very aggressive schedule to begin with,” Wakeman said. “That’s our goal right now is to have safe use of the building and access to the building for classrooms on the third floor, and to finish up the rest of the work in September.”Webster HallWebster Hall’s exterior was surrounded by scaffolding this summer, as the dormitory underwent the first phase of its two-year renovation plan. The building, which is just over one hundred years old and is expected to house close to seventy students this year, was chosen for construction because of its restoration and code compliance needs.“Webster was badly in need of an update, having not had one in decades,” Giorgio Secondi, Webster North dorm head, said. “We constantly have facilities personnel in the dorm trying to fix problems with plumbing, heating, windows, and so on.” Next summer, the interior of the dorm will be renovated. Among the many changes, an elevator will be installed and the bathrooms will be moved out of the center of the building. One of the largest changes likely resulting from the move of the restrooms will be the dorm's culture.“One of the key changes that will affect the dorm as a community starting in the fall of 2014 is that the distinction between Webster North and Webster South will disappear,” Secondi said. “Structural renovations will facilitate the ‘unification’ of the dorm as bathrooms are moved out of the halls, where they currently serve to provide some physical separation between the two sides. The new Webster will be about as large as Dunbar and have a single team of dorm faculty and proctors.”Elm Street Dining HallThe first phase of the Elm Street Dining Hall renovation will be completed by the end of the summer. Over the past three months, Facilities Management focused on the basics, working on the ceiling and lighting in the building. Next summer, major remodeling will be done, including a reconfiguration of the dining and seating services.“Part of the process, with the new lightings and ceilings, is to preserve [the building],” Wakeman said. “Next summer, you’ll see that the changes in how the whole food services operation works is to modernize how food services is done...to provide better food service options to the students and the faculty--having different options presented in different ways, being more efficient.”Williams HouseThe renovation needs of Williams House’s faculty housing and student spaces made the dormitory a construction priority. The work is on track to be complete and the dorm ready for students to move in come September.Williams House dorm faculty Christina Breen is “very excited for our new living environment.” “It had fallen into disrepair over the years and had many elements that no longer functioned,” Breen said. “They began some preliminary elements on March 1, so students and my family lived through some inconveniences, like boarded up windows and entrances, but it was worth it.”In addition to the more visible projects, Facilities Management has been working on a variety of other tasks. Major underground construction is finishing up on the Academy’s steam distribution system along Elliot Street. The new Ford Quad Outdoor Classroom, part of the Class of 2013’s gift, and Wetherell quad landscaping is also being completed.“It’s been one of our busiest summers, and it takes a lot of coordination with our team and the rest of  campus,” Wakeman said. “Summer school was a great partner, and our team’s put a lot of work in and done very well. There’ve been a lot of challenges, but it’s coming together, and we'll continue to do these projects to make the campus better.”