Minutes From the Campus Center Planning Committee on May 12, 2003

Those present: Tom Crady, John Kalkbrenner, Dick Williams, Linda Price, Bob Cadmus, Michael Sims, Frank Thomas, Dixie Hansen, Eli Zigas, Katie Pieper, Joseph Oppong, Brian Turner, Sheree Andrews

Darin Cook and Phil Nelson from Cesar-Pelli; Al Moller from Thomas Ricca

Discussed VE (Value Engineering) list. The new campus center is still over budget by about 4 million. When calculating the budget, a list of materials is created that can be modified and adjusted for savings. Both the independent cost estimator and the contractor receive a set of documents which list every item for the construction of the building. This document doesn't include all material costs so some of the prices listed are estimates. These cost estimates effect the overall budget of the campus center. The architects have been given a directive from the College and the Trustees to keep the building on budget at 32 million.

Some suggested changes to reduce costs include: changing the thickness of the stone on the front of the building, changing the flooring from stone to vinyl, or modifying the wall coverings. The question was raised if this is the kind of building the College wants? With mechanical and structural changes the building would still be 1.4 million over budget. The next step is to reduce the size of the building by 12,000 square feet. Cutting the program at this stage is hard. It's difficult for the architects because it may entail redesigning the building to meet the budget. A new design will impact the schedule and completion time. Problems could arise with the Trustees with a change in design.

The architects feel there's a problem with the prices the contractor receive from various subcontractors. There's not a lot of competition between the subcontractors and this raises prices. There's a meeting this afternoon with the contractor to discuss cutting costs. The architects will have more information after this meeting. The committee suggested: moving the post office to the lower level, moving the craft workshop to another location on campus, maybe eliminating the multi-purpose room, reducing the size of the dining area, eliminating the terraces. It was suggested the size could be reduced by moving offices to the lower level. The design team assumes the responsibility to bring the building in on budget. Eliminating the multi-purpose room would save about half the overage. It's hard to find large cost areas which can be cut without changing the building.

The committee needs to develop a list of program reductions and the architects will evaluate them. The architects will respond with what's feasible to change and how much money will be saved. A committee member felt it was important to inform the campus community of any drastic design changes. Tom will send a list for the committee to review and prioritize changes.