Columbia University is seeking to tap into the local workforce for its latest construction project at 600 W. 125th Street, a new University housing building intended for Columbia graduate students and faculty members.
As you walk in and around the Morningside campus, you may notice more protective sidewalk shedding installed around buildings.
The majority of this protective shedding is connected to the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) Façade Inspection and Safety Program.
The summer provides Facilities and Operations with an ideal opportunity to perform a significant amount of improvements on campus as some can only take place when the weather is warmer or the campus is less populated. As this summer is different from typical years, Facilities and Operations has planned work on a select number of projects to be less impactful to the relative increased level of activities taking place on campus this summer.
Edward McArthur, vice president of Planning and Capital Project Management, was a featured speaker at “Design Changes in a Post-Pandemic World,” a virtual event hosted by Commercial Observer on January 19.
This fall, Facilities and Operations is performing a number of façade inspections and repair work to academic buildings on the Morningside campus in accordance with the NYC Department of Building’s Façade Inspection and Safety Program.
The historic renovation of St. Paul’s Chapel was honored with a 2020 Preservation Award by the Victorian Society in America. The Victorian Society’s Preservation Awards recognize preservation, restoration, or rehabilitation projects of significant structures created during the period 1837 to 1917.
When Mahogany Jones arrives at the construction site for the new Columbia Business School buildings at the University’s Manhattanville campus early each morning, she knows the rest of the construction team is counting on her to prepare the site for the day's work. For Jones, finding herself working in this critical construction role is thanks in part to a union pre-apprenticeship program organized by Facilities and Operations and other community partners.
Kim Chen, director for capital project management at Columbia, participated on a panel on higher education construction hosted by AIA New York on July 30, 2020. The panel shared perspectives from university architects and planners on optimizing historic campus buildings and adapting them for greater functionality, resiliency, sustainability, and long-term preservation.
Each year, Facilities and Operations utilizes the summer months to perform a significant amount of improvements while the campus has a reduced population. As this summer is different from typical years, Facilities and Operations has planned an abbreviated summer schedule to perform work on select projects before classes are anticipated to resume in the fall.
As New York City enters into phase 1 of reopening which allows all construction to proceed, construction work is resuming at select projects at the Morningside and Manhattanville campuses with strict safety measures in place.
During the COVID-19 health emergency, Facilities and Operations has implemented the New York State Construction Guidelines for all construction and facilities-related activities. These guidelines have been posted on the Purchasing website. For more information, please visit https://finance.columbia.edu/procurement/lifecycle/purchasing/facilities.
Using the architect’s original plan as a guide, the Capital Project Management team led a two-year restoration project that earned the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s highest honors for excellence in preservation.
New cooling towers were loaded onto the roof of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center as part of an ongoing expansion of the Manhattanville Central Energy Plant, a facility that provides chilled water, high pressure steam, and electric power across the new campus.