What is Happening With The Construction On Campus?
USC Aiken’s campus is undergoing renovations, maintenance and construction.
USC Aiken was built in 1973 and many of the buildings are experiencing deterioration due to use and the environment. Maintenance and revocations are needed on existing buildings on campus to restore them and meet the maintenance requirements from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
Brain Enter, the Senior University Facilities Executive, states, “Essentially what that does [his position] is to oversee the maintenance and operations of all the facilities. Everything from capital projects that you see we have going on, improvements to regular maintenance activities to environmental health and safety.”
The construction of the Humanities and Social Science building is currently the largest renovation happening on campus. This revocation is split up into two phases, phase one was the back half of the establishment which was completed over Summer 2023. Phase two is ongoing for the front half of the building to replace the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. To replace the HVAC system the ceilings and ductwork of the facility must be torn down.
In addition to being the largest renovation, the Humanities building is the most visible. The fencing that is blocking off the front is there for the safety of students, housing dumpsters and to provide the contractor with a laydown area. Contractors are required to have an area to lay equipment that will go inside the building and give them a place to work.
Regarding the fence Enter comments, “I know it’s an ugly fence and I can’t wait till it’s taken down.”
The two large lecture halls 116 and 103 at the front have been renovated with new painting and furniture but are not accessible for use yet. The Dean’s office for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences has also been renovated but is temporally relocated to the back of the building until the end of the semester. This restoration is arranged to be finished by the end of the 2023 calendar year.
The next intrusive project will be the Etheredge Center with plans for a roof replacement and HVAC renovation. Similar to the Humanities building, the intent is to shut down half of the Etheredge Center to do the HVAC renovations in Summer 2024.
“That building is just too big, there’s too many events that go on in there, we have to have the building open during the school year,” Enter explains.
The aim is to get new flooring, new chillers and do a new paint job in the Etheredge Center as well. During mid-October, upgrades to the bathrooms in that building will commence with restrooms still available for use.
This past summer, Penland underwent some painting and floor revamping. Penland 106, the lecture hall, has also been renovated with new paint, seating and carpet.
“The contractors are still here, they’re about 90% -- 95% done. They’re wrapping up a bunch of stuff, you know, punch list items is what we call them,” announced Enter.
The Science and Engineering building will be upgrading the floors and be given a paint job. Room 327 has been renovated with new seating, carpet and a paint job.
In the Ruth Patrick Science Center on the observatory side with high ceilings, a new floor will be added in Summer 2024. A donor has gifted money for that renovation to occur along with items to exhibit as well.
The Business and Education building is undergoing remodeling of the gym on the second floor. The gym is being refurbished to hold several offices: the Chancellor, the Provost, Budget, Human Resources and Distance Learning Center. The Center for Teaching Excellence for facility to get training on new technologies, teaching methodologies and more will be moved there as well.
In the Wellness Center, a room in the back used to house a sauna and hot tub was remodeled as a multipurpose room to be useful for other programs. The Business and Education building is planned to be getting HVAC control upgrades which is different than a complete replacement.
Enter explains, “We’re not gutting it, what we’re doing is surgically, you know, repairing portions of the system.”
Room 140 has been upgraded with new seating and a paint job. The Business and Education building has had some delays in renovation due to supply chain problems for needed materials. Factors that could delay construction timelines and push back finish dates are weather and supply chain issues. Supply manufacturers do not have enough people in the workforce.
“What happens is it’s a downstream effect, they can’t make as much material you know as they need to so it takes longer to get that material,” Enter commented on the supply chain issue.
In the resident hall buildings, there have been some upgrades to the first two floors of Pacer Commons. There are hopes for the remaining two floors to continue during Christmas and Spring Break. If issues arise with timing for the needed materials, then they will be renovated in Summer 2024. Pacer Crossings is set the get a paint job within the hallways and rooms in the Summer of 2024.
The Gregg-Graniteville Library will commence revamping the first floor to create the Pacer Academic Resource Center or P.A.R.C during the Summer of 2024. The intent is to organize a one-stop shop for students who need academic assistance such as tutoring and advising.
There will be new furniture, group study locations and conference rooms on the first floor. The library will also house new technologies and offices such as the Help Desk which has already moved in there for the Fall 2023 semester. The middle section in the building that currently carries the Help Desk will be torn down to create an open floor plan.
The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) building is coming to USC Aiken for Engineering and other STEM fields. The AMC is being constructed where Trolley Line Road and University Parkway met between the nursing building and soon to be the former softball field. This building is a partnership between USC Aiken and the Department of Energy (DOE), specifically the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL).
Enter pronounces, “Essentially, there’s nothing or anything nucellar in that building, right so it will all be, mainly from what I understand their research that they will be doing in there is mainly in robotics, nanotechnology, all that kind of stuff.”
The vision for the AMC building is to allow students to work and do research alongside scientists while providing the University opportunities to attract faculty. The AMC building will house laboratories, classrooms, offices and conference spaces for facility and student use. Some areas of the building will not be accessible to students because of classified research and information from the SRNL. Construction of the AMC building is intended to be completed by Spring 2025.
Over Summer 2024, portions of the water and sewer system will have the capacity increased to prevent backups. A retention pond for stormwater runoff will be created by the AMC building.
USC Aiken has another partnership with the South Carolina Army National Guard to build a Cyber Integration Center on the current softball field. This building will house a lot of cyber security and other STEM fields. As this building is still in the design phase, there is no timeline for when construction will begin or conclude.
The College of Science and Engineering will be receiving a machine shop facility which will house machines and serve as their laboratory. This building is intended to be located between Pacer Downs and the soccer field. Though construction has not begun on this facility, the goal is for it to be completed by the end of 2023.
Another project in design is the closing of an entrance from both parking lots A and B. The Department of Transportation (DOT) has noted that USC Aiken has too many entrances and requested that the university close those two. Then the idea is to connect parking lot A and B with the roundabout in front of Penland to create a traffic circle.
Enter proclaims, “That way if you had to go from nursing building to over here to the science building you can hop in your car and not have to go out on the road, stay on campus.”
In regard to the sports construction, the University’s goal is to get all sports fields in one area by the Convocation Center to have a full sport complex. A new softball field is scheduled to begin construction in December of 2023 and will be located by the Convocation Center. The 2024 softball season will be the team’s last season on the current field and the 2025 season will be the first on the new field.
Currently, plans are in preparation to construct a new soccer field near the Convocation Center. Once the new field is constructed, there’s discussion about using the former as a multipurpose field for intramural sports and Student Life to use.
Tennis was cut years ago, as of now there are no plans to build on top of the current courts on campus. The University is looking for funding to complete the goal of moving all sports-related fields to the Convocation Center.
Enter wants the student population to know, “When they’re around construction site just be careful, don’t cut through a construction zone for their own safety, those kind of things. And just be patient with us, it’ll be worth it, I know it’s an inconvenience but it’s progress and progress is always a challenge sometimes.”
