The speed of construction on UL projects

[NewsCopy]

A couple of points of interest about the speed of construction on the projects at UL. 1 - The Lourdes Sports Park project is being handled internally through the university. There have been some delays during the course of this project due to some unacceptable material being delivered to the job along with some weather delays. Our goal was to have that project completed for the upcoming baseball season and we will reach that goal. 2 - The Soccer / Track project and the Indoor Practice Facility are both being run by Facility Planning and Control in Baton Rouge, even though UL is funding those projects. The way that state law reads is that any project over $500,000 in value must be administered by FP & C. We send our money to FP & C and they handle the project the same as if it is their money. 3 - The university administration did not hold up either the Indoor Practice Facility or the Soccer / Track facility. The administration sent every penny required for these projects on the day that it was requested. 4 - The Burke-Hawthorne Hall project is a state funded project that the design started more than five years ago and we are finally ready for bidding. The new Computer Science facility is a university funded project that the design started four years ago. My point is that any state run project will take a long time to process because of a tedious phased design process. I've been working on these projects for the university for over sixteen years and the self-generated projects move like lightning when compared to the state funded projects. It is unfair to blame the speed of the athletic projects on the university's administration because it just isn't true. Keep in mind, that if you had the money to start a major project today (10/9/2006), the timeline would be as such: Prepare documents for submission to the legislature for approval in the 2007 session (I'm sorry, but it's to late for a submission for that session, because those submissions were due in August - let's shoot for the 2008 session). Once legislative approval is given, then you send the money to FP & C and request that an architect be hired for the job (the next architecture selection board meeting will be in about three months). You select an architect and they have about 18 months to design the facility - but delays of 6 - 12 months are common for every project. You are now looking at the project that you funded going out to bid in October of 2009 (if you could have gotten the project into the 2007 legislative session) and construction starting around January of 2010. Let's just hope that prices haven't gone up in that time, or we will have to send more money to the state. Allow 18 months for construction and the project you funded in October of 2006 should be complete in June of 2011. That is how self-funded projects work. I first submitted a formal request for the Indoor Practice Facility in August of 2002 and it was approved in the 2003-04 legislative session. We were able to hire an architect in September of 2004 and the design firm worked on the drawings until December of 2005. The project bid in February of 2006 and a contract was signed on April 3, 2006. There was NEVER a delay caused by funding from UL.

[NewsCopy]

BATON ROUGE - The state is taking bids Feb. 6 for renovating and expanding Burke-Hawthorne Hall, almost four years after the planning work was completed. The structure houses the theater, communications and communicative disorders programs and radio station KRVS on the campus of UL. The 2006 Capital Outlay Bill contains $10.7 million for the project - $4.6 million that's available for immediate use and $6.1 million in other funds that are available when needed. Plans call for an addition totaling more than 30,000 square feet with a two-story wing to be built between Burke-Hawthorne and Judice halls and a one-story wing added to the backstage area of the theater. The rest of the story By Mike Hasten mhasten@gannett.com

[DaddyCajun]

Does anyone know if the Student Union is up for bid in 2007? This will really anchor the middle of campus. I would like to see it up an running prior to my kids starting to trickel into UL in 2011!


New overlay of the roads around campus is way over due! The city certainly owes it to the University to overlay the campus roads. If it is the state or federal dollars that are holding this project up then, City of Lafayette get the ball rolling.

If this is on the books and someone knows this to be fact, please spill the beans!

DaddyCajun

[CajunNation]

My point is that any state run project will take a long time to process because of a tedious phased design process. I've been working on these projects for the university for over sixteen years and the self-generated projects move like lightning when compared to the state funded projects.

All the more reason to start a Cajun Athletic Foundation that is independent of the university.

It is unfair to blame the speed of the athletic projects on the university's administration because it just isn't true.

No it isn't. See above.

It's time to take the training wheels off.