While students are perhaps more familiar with current construction projects on Grounds such as the South Lawn Project and the new dormitories on Observatory Hill, University Facilities Management is also busy with maintenance and restoration efforts.
Mark Webb, associate director for work management, said 79 maintenance reserve projects are currently in progress.
Webb added that these projects, which are normally in the $25,000 to $1 million range, are "a state capital allocation that is used to fix existing equipment that has reached the end of its useful life or has broken."
Webb said the University's Board of Visitors also allocates funds to these types of projects as well; an example of such a project, he said, would be a roof replacement project or any other major maintenance renovation on Grounds.
In the near future, the number of maintenance projects is also expected to grow, Webb said, adding that the Board of Visitors is presently aware of many potential projects that must be worked on either as soon as possible or within the next several years.
"Without trying there is $180 million of work [that still needs to be done], and this is the maintenance backlog," Webb said, noting that the Board wants Facilities Management to improve the facility condition index by 2015.
This index, Webb said, takes the work that needs to be done on a building and divides it by its replacement value.
In terms of ongoing on-Grounds maintenance projects, there are more than 100 projects and renovations taking place, including the 79 maintenance reserve projects, Webb said. The Lawn in particular has seen a large increase in maintenance activity; the pavilions as well as the nearby Poe Alley face significant renovation.
Facilities Management has begun replacing the railings and roofs of the Colonnades, starting with Pavilion IX, Supervisory Senior Project Manager Jody Lahendro said.
Replacing the "very damaged" railings and roofs started out of necessity, Lahendro said, but the replacements quickly turned into a full-blown restoration project after a firm hired by Facilities Management found information regarding Jefferson's original railing design.
Before the current "Chinese" railings, which date from 1976, the pavilions had 19th-century cast iron railings, Lahendro said, adding that the taller railings featured in Jefferson's original plan will replace the current ones.
"We have started with Pavilion IX and our intent is to go all the way around the Lawn," Lahendro said, adding that the project may take as long as four years to complete.
Poe Alley, meanwhile, has entered the first of its three-stage paving replacement projects, Lahendro said. The first stage, in which the parking court will be repaved, will be completed by graduation. After graduation, the rest of the paving project will be completed.
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