With a final beam, builders finish NCHW's framework

Members of the INTECH construction crew, Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services, and representatives from Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects celebrated the "topping off" milestone of New College House West last week with the placement of the last steel beam.

Members of the architectural project and construction teams signed the beam to mark the midway point of the construction project which began in spring 2018. David Dunn, project manager of design and construction at Facilities and Real Estate Services, said that NCHW is expected to be completed by May 1, 2021 and will open for student housing in August 2021. 

At the 2017 announcement of the construction project, Penn President Amy Gutmann told Penn Today that the completion of this new residence will allow more students to participate in on-campus housing. In Sept. 2018, Penn announced that all sophomores will be required to live on campus beginning with the class of 2024.

Gutmann added that the additional college house will give the University flexibility to continue to renovate existing student housing.

The 250,000-square-foot, $169.5 million residential building will house 450 sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dunn said that the layout will be similar to that of Lauder College House, with a combination of two, three, four, and five bedroom apartments.

Last semester, students complained about construction noise from the building site.

“The noise complaints that started at the beginning of the academic year were found to really be due to the early morning trash pick-ups,” Mike Dausch, executive director of design and construction at FRES, said. 

Dausch said the trash belonged to the University and was not affiliated with the construction project. Roadwork on Walnut St. that has since been finished also contributed to noise that bothered students, Dausch added. Dausch said that the issue has since been amended by moving the pick-ups to a later time. 

Dunn, Dausch, and Buchmann confirmed that the construction site has had strict requirements on when they do loud work and have tried to limit noise in the early mornings and late evening as much as possible. 

Dunn said on weekdays, construction begins at 7 a.m. and loud work is minimized until 8 a.m. He added that construction usually ends at 4:30 p.m., but extra shifts have been added the past several months to add exterior panels to the building. Dunn said that construction only takes place on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. if there is rain during the week and makeup work needs to be done.

Mariette Buchman, director of design and construction at FRES, said that during reading days and exams, construction will start at 8:00 a.m. to prevent construction from interrupting students' rest.