Here we are about to close out July and head into August. It’s hard to believe that new and returning students will be back on campus in just about four weeks.
While there has been much work and activity taking place at Swartz Hall, there has also been significant effort to ready our temporary office and classroom space at 60 Oxford Street ahead of the fall semester. Classrooms are progressing, as you can see from the pictures I’ve included below. The focus the last couple of weeks has been installing audio/visual equipment. There are a few other items to complete over the next two to three weeks, including selective carpet replacement and signage. The last thing that will need to happen is delivery and installation of the furniture, which is scheduled for later in August.
As expected, this was not a simple project. There were a lot of aspects to it that had to be completed on a very tight schedule. Thanks to the hard work of the Office of Operations team, all the staff and faculty involved in the move earlier this summer, and the work crews, the space will be ready by the start of the semester.
Site work. Demolition work continues at Swartz Hall. The cloister link has been mostly removed from the building, and work to remove the foundation is underway. Selective demolition and abatement continues throughout the rest of the building. The demolition of the Andover-Harvard Theological Library stacks in the old stack wing has started and will continue for several weeks.
The cloister link demolition and this other work means lots of noise (thanks for bearing with that). I want to remind everyone who may be in AHTL when this work is taking place that there are noise-canceling headphones available to checkout at the AHTL circulation desk. They will be available for the duration of the renewal project.
A crane will soon arrive in the Francis Avenue parking lot in the fenced in area by the bike shelter. The bicycle racks along the south wall of Swartz Hall will be removed and temporary racks will be installed next to the bicycle shelter and near the existing racks next to Rockefeller Hall.
Stockpiled soil was removed from the site. Digging for utility work between Rockefeller Hall and AHTL will start as soon the week of July 29. Please note that a portion of this work will happen outside of the site fence.
—Ralph