Phase two of a construction project on loop lines which began in mid-May is expected to be completed by the end of September or beginning of October.
Loop line pipes located under the Brown Library, Sherrod building and Don H. Morris building have been dug up and replaced with new high-density polyethylene pipes that feed out from directly underneath the buildings, to make future repairs more accessible. Construction on loop lines also took place under Gardner and Sikes residence halls, resulting in a new parking lot surface.
Scot Colley, director of Construction and Risk Management, said the project was part of the capital plan and cost an estimated amount of $3 million.
“Everything has gone really well and really smooth, there have been no major setbacks,” said Colley. “We learned a lot from the first time”.
The last section of lining to be replaced, and most concentrated area of construction, will be the area between the Don H. Morris building and Mabee Hall.
Phase one of the project began in summer 2010 and connected 23 buildings to the heating and cooling loop lines.
An estimated 3,500 feet of pipes have been excavated, with close to 1,200 linear feet of pipe involved. Several crews were involved in this project, including one plumbing crew, two excavation crews, an irrigation crew, and a landscaping crew.
These loop lines are part of a closed loop piping system that uses water to heat and cool the buildings around campus. Many of the previous loop lines were around 40 years old. Others were up to 50-60 years old. The new loop lines are expected to last for another 40 years before needing replacement.
The renovations are intended to improve the air conditioning around ACU’s campus, keeping the temperatures in rooms from being too extreme. As a result, the air conditioning was shut off in the Brown Library from Aug. 2 at 5 p.m. to Aug. 3 at 8 a.m. and the air conditioning in the Don H. Morris building was off from 5 to 9 p.m. on Aug 2.
Dr. Gregory Straughn, dean of College of Arts and Sciences, said it was an investment that needed to be made.
“I’m very grateful and appreciative for Scot Colley. . . he was very helpful about giving information of when the air conditioning was going to be off,” said Straughn. “We got plenty of great notice, I don’t think if effected business as usual.”
