Classes are now being held in the new Behavioral and Social Sciences building while construction is being completed. Most of the work is done, but some issues persist as many small elements are still being finalized.
“Once you have substantial completion, which we had, we were able to move in and start using the building, but you have these lingering things,” said Randy Southall, associate vice president of facilities and capital projects.
There is currently a problem with the temperature in many of the rooms. Students and faculty are dealing with classes in very warm rooms, while the offices tend to be cold. An issue with the programming for the heat pump is causing a circuit to trip, which shuts down the machine, Southall said.
“When it turns off it overcompensates, so some areas are really hot and some aren’t getting any heat, so they’re cold,” Southall said. He still expects the building to be completed and ready for all classes to move in for the spring semester. Most of the remaining work is on small, easily fixable issues.
The accompanying work on the Bidwell Bowl may take longer, however.
The enclosed, key-coded bicycle lock-up area outside the building is a proof of concept, Southall said.
There is space for 40 bicycles in the cage. There are several bikes locked to a nearby fence every day, as these are the only spots near the BSS building.
Chico State will begin renting out the bike spots next semester. The plan is to see how desirable they are and how they end up being used before they decide to duplicate them elsewhere on campus, said Chico State public relations manager Andrew Staples.
They have not finalized pricing, but Staples expects the cost to be similar to the small number of locking spaces outside the Meriam Library building, which are $30 a semester or $80 for a calendar year.
This does raise a question as to what happens once the concept has been proven. Earlier this semester, someone took the time to hang a sign on the new bicycle cage that said, “bike locks for the 1%.” It could create a distinction between students who can afford to have their bike protected and students who are still subject to the possibility of theft due to their financial situation.
Capital projects funds were used to pay for the BSS building. Chico State maintains a five-year capital projects plan, so they always know what they are looking to achieve over the next five years. Once projects have gone through the university’s approval process, they compete with all other CSUs for the same pot of funding, Southall said.
The school has already received funding for a new Human Identification Lab building. It is currently at 75% of the schematic design for that building and will need to go through the board of trustees for approval of the final design. Construction for that building should begin in about 18 months, and it will be located west of the Wildcat Recreation Center, Southall said.
A ribbon cutting ceremony for the BSS building is tentatively scheduled for the first week of the spring semester, Staples said.
Sean Shanks can be reached at [email protected].
