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June 2005 • Volume 2, Issue 6 This issue home | Action home | Chamber home Construction On UTD Research Facility Proceeding On Schedule
Construction is well underway on the new four-story, 192,000-square-foot Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Building (NSERB) at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). With a target completion date of summer 2006 and a cost of $85 million, the NSERB will be the second largest building at the university (after UTD's School of Management building that opened in 2003). For the university and to the community, the project is a sign of real progress toward the goal of making UTD a top research university. UTD expects to fill this research facility with up to 350 high-level faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from the fields of electrical engineering, material science, chemistry, biology and behavioral and brain sciences. The building is also intended to provide space for small, start-up businesses, or incubators, that often spring from university research efforts. Located on the southeast corner of Synergy Parkway and Rutford Avenue, on the northern end of the UTD campus, the building will contain laboratories, a clean room, and other areas dedicated to research. “Construction is proceeding well and, since we have not had too much rain this winter and spring, the project is moving along right on schedule,” said Bruce Gnade, professor of electrical engineering at UTD. Gnade is the “point man,” keeping tabs on the project for Bob Helms, dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. “The basement and first floor concrete have been poured, columns on the first floor have been erected; the second floor has been partly poured,” Gnade said. “Each day, it seems like there's some new aspect of the building or site which is started or completed. “By the beginning of September, we anticipate that we will be 'topping out' with all the concrete to the fourth floor complete,” he added. The start of construction was signaled by the groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 18, held at UTD simultaneously with a groundbreaking for the Texas Instruments semiconductor plant, also in Richardson. Part of the funding for the building comes as a result of the Texas Enterprise Fund incentive for the Texas Instruments plant which TI requested be given to UTD. Involved on a daily basis with the architectural design firm (PageSoutherlandPage), the construction manager at risk (Centex Construction), and other subcontractors, is Tom Lund, the resident construction manager for the Office of Facility Planning & Construction, University of Texas System. “Basically, I'm the owner's designated representative for the UT System Board of Regents – with responsibility for looking after this project during the construction phase,” Lund said. “We are running tight to our accelerated schedule. We're pouring the concrete structural slab on the southern portion of the first floor and have completed the first concrete pour on the northeast section of the second floor. “At the same time, we are forming the columns and floor decking for the northeast section of the third floor, so the building is quickly coming out of the ground. “We started by excavating 50,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock out of an area roughly an acre in size, twenty-five feet deep, then we drilled and poured 110 piers, formed and poured grade beams, formed and poured the concrete basement walls and columns, and poured the first floor structural slab in three sections. “As the building rises out of the ground, you can begin to see the basic contours of the building taking shape. The exterior skin material, glass, pre-cast concrete, metal panels and opalescent blue-green anodized stainless steel shingles should begin to be installed in late August or early September. “This building design is complex and multi-faceted,” remarked Lund . “Like a diamond in the rough waiting to be carefully cut and polished into a world-class gemstone, this world-class research facility, wrapped in a world-class design, is being carefully crafted into a signature building for the university, the City of Richardson and the State of Texas.” |
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