Facilities Update
TO: Members of the UMass Boston Community
FROM: Dorothy F. Renaghan
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management
DATE: March 27, 2007
RE: Recent Facilities Events
I am writing to update the community on recent events that have affected campus facilities and to acknowledge that there have been delays in Facilities being able to undertake work for various departments that is important and necessary.
According to Helen Keller, “A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.” If her observation is true, those of us who work in Facilities Management and all of you who teach, work and learn in our facilities must be truly happy people!
Since early February, we have experienced several significant unanticipated events that have both tested our collective resilience and reinforced the need to address the significant maintenance deferrals that have accumulated on campus. Our recent challenges have included:
- Loss of power to Clark Athletic Center at approximately 1:00 AM on Thursday, February 8th caused by the failure of a relay in the 480 volt switchgear. Repairs were made during the night and the building was re-opened by 9:00 AM on February 8th.
- Later that day, it was discovered that during the power outage a coil in an air handling unit had frozen and, when it thawed it caused a leak onto the rink’s ice surface. Temporary repair to this coil was made so that hockey could resume.
- Two pipe breaks in the Upper Level garage by the Clark Athletic Center on Wednesday, February 21st. Both breaks, to a fire main and to a domestic water line, were due to pipes freezing during an extended period of cold weather. The fire main was repaired on February 22nd and the domestic water line was repaired on February 23rd. Repairs were performed during the overnight periods in order to minimize disruption to campus operations.
- A failed heating line servicing the Greenhouse on the 4th floor of the Science Center on Sunday, March 4th. This break left the Greenhouse temporarily without heat and caused water to enter a laboratory on the 1st floor and into the Machine Shop in the Upper Level. By approximately 8:30 that Sunday evening the repairs were completed (replacing approximately 10 feet of 2 inch piping), heat was restored to the Greenhouse and the cleanup was underway.
- The emergency generator servicing Healey Library failed during routine weekly testing during the evening of Tuesday, March 6th. Because this generator failure meant there would have been no lighting or elevator service in the event of a power outage, the building was evacuated at 8:00 p.m. and the Library closed for the remainder of that evening. A portable back-up generator was delivered to campus by 9:00 PM and high voltage electricians had completed the necessary tie-in and testing by 2:00 AM. Healey Library was able to return to normal operation on the morning of March 7th.
- A relay on a Clark Athletic Center air compressor burned out on Monday, March 12th at 9:30 PM causing the building’s loss of power, including to the emergency panel. Work to restore the building power and installation of a temporary air compressor occurred that night so that operations could resume the next day.
- At approximately 4:00 AM on Saturday, March 17th, staff making rounds to check on leaks during that night’s snow/rain/wind event discovered that a pipe connected to the ceiling over the pool at the Clark Athletic Center had fallen. We believe this was caused by the failure of the roof over the pool building. Sustained wind gusts may have lifted the failed roof’s membrane and with it the roof drain and the pipe attached to that drain. When the wind died down, the drain and pipe probably slammed back down, the force of which caused the pipe elbow to separate from the longer pipe attached to it and fall to the pool deck. The pool has remained closed this week while we await the results of evaluation of the roof, the roof drain system, and the hangers attached to the ceiling. Those test results will be used to determine what repairs need to be made so that the pool can be re-opened.
- Based upon this event we authorized an evaluation of all roofs and this was completed on Thursday, March 22. As a result, two sections of the Clark Rink roof were noted as having delaminated and repairs to those sections are in progress this week.
These unanticipated disruptions to operations are in addition to the various shutdowns and service interruptions necessitated by ongoing project work across campus that has been undertaken to address:
Deferred maintenance, such as the replacement of the Wheatley Roof;
Safety and statutory issues such as elevator upgrades in Healey Library and the Science Center and the installation of a fire sprinkler system in the Science Center
Energy improvements such as the installation of new doors and vestibules on the Campus Center; and
Programmatic enhancements such as the construction of the Children’s Fitness Center in the Quinn Administration building.
Thanks to dedicated staff, we are able to address these unanticipated challenges as they arise, but the hours take their toll on staff and divert us from the work we need and want to do – planning, renovating, constructing and maintaining a facilities portfolio that is an asset to the University’s teaching and research mission. Because we have had to respond to so many unanticipated and critical events, we have not been to respond as timely as we would like to the full range of projects on our agenda. And, more importantly, our efforts to change the daily experience in Facilities from one of “firefighting” to planned maintenance have been hindered. We acknowledge this and we ask for your continued patience.
At the same time, there are glimmers of hope on the horizon:
- We have access to bond funding issued by the UMass Building Authority (UMBA) to help us fund some of our most pressing deferred maintenance needs and space initiatives;
- We are working to diligently to organize and centralize our information on our facilities in order to help our planning and maintenance efforts; and
- We are attempting to forge new relationships with DCAM and UMBA that should help us navigate our way through the labyrinth of regulations that govern public construction in Massachusetts and thus increase the volume of the University’s voice in decisions concerning the future of its facilities.
As author Anne Lamott has noted: “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up.” While recent days have been challenging, we in Facilities will continue to show up and work, regardless of day or time to address the challenges presented to us. We hope that our efforts and response give you hope that the future can and will be different.
Please visit our Facilities Home Page for more important Updates