A new suite-style residence hall is just one of the many projects completed on campus as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point welcomes students, faculty and staff for the 2011-12 academic year.
Now filled with student residents, the Suites @ 201 Reserve is the university’s first new residence hall in more than 40 years. Construction of the $25.2 building project, paid for with student fees, began in 2009 with the demolition of Hyer Hall, which held 200 students. The new hall houses 323 students, five community advisers and one residence hall director in 82 four-bedroom suites and one two-bedroom apartment. The building was designed and built to the highest green building and performance measures and is currently rated with a LEED Silver certification. The suites are fully furnished with a kitchen, living room and three compartment bathroom areas in addition to the separate bedrooms.
The Military Science Department has a new location within an addition to the Health Enhancement Center, after spending 40 years in separate areas of the Student Services Center and Nelson Hall. The new space provides offices, a 32-seat classroom, a 10-seat tactical laboratory, a student computer lab and storage areas. This addition also adheres to Wisconsin’s own LEED standards.
Elsewhere on campus, a new structure on Maria Drive near the Maintenance and Materiel Building houses the campus Resource Recovery Center (recycling), which offers training in recycling of office paper, glass and plastic bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard generated from the campus. Also in the new building is a Waste Education Laboratory, which includes a full functioning pilot wastewater treatment plant to be used for teaching, a composting lab, microbiology lab and instructional classroom.
In addition, the Maintenance and Materiel building was remodeled and an addition was added to include a vehicle garage, enclosed loading dock, more office space, a new grounds department area, salt and landscape material storage, upgraded accessible bathrooms and maintenance shops. Since the original building was built in 1971, the amount of total campus building space maintained has increased by 35 percent, amount of landscape maintained by 56 percent, and increased parking and sidewalks maintained by 43 percent, according to Campus Planner Carl Rasmussen.
Landscaping was another big project this summer, especially after a wind storm took down 22 campus trees and branches on hundreds of others. The grounds and custodial departments responded quickly to cleaning up the damages, said Grounds Supervisor Chris Brindley. Also completed was the refurbishing of landscaping outside many of the new construction projects and brick paving for bike parking adjacent to campus buildings.
Other projects completed throughout the 2010–11 academic year include:
* Neale Hall was remodeled to upgrade windows for energy efficiency, lighting, electrical circuit capacity and heating/cooling systems. Accessibility was improved with the addition of an elevator and exterior access ramp and 11 fully accessible resident rooms. The front lobby area was remodeled and walls and ceilings were painted. Solar panels were installed for hot water usage, fire sprinklers installed and the emergency notification system was upgraded.
* A chilled water plant was constructed to serve the buildings on the north end of campus. Piping was connected to the current south distribution system, allowing for a larger capacity for the entire campus.
* Forty-two restrooms were renovated in the Collins Classroom Center, Learning Resource Center, Communication Arts Center and Berg section of the Health Enhancement Center, including replacement of plumbing piping and fixtures, and locker and shower facilities for athletic use.
* Lateral high-pressure steam pipes and condensate return pipes were rebuilt, with the project continuing next summer.
