With construction well under way at Grand Valley State University, Tim Thimmesch, assistant vice president of facilities services, says the unpredictable weather will play an important role in the successful and timely completion of summer time projects on Allendale’s campus.

“We always worry about the weather,” assistance vice president for facilities planning, James Moyer agreed. “Rain slows us down. Rain at the wrong time creates problems.”

Aside from the weather, construction ran into minor complications when a water main break caused buildings around North Campus Drive to lose water supply earlier this week. However, Matt McLogan, vice president of public relations, confirmed that any related issues have been resolved and the water supply is currently operating as normal.

Moyer said most of the disruptive work was done prior to beginning of classes, but the university will be working to secure the sites over the next few days to meet safety protocols.

The beginning of construction on the Mary Idema Pew library is the biggest underway, Moyer said, while staging has already started for the pond project, the wetlands, and the storm water management effort. In addition, temporary roads are being constructed for the signal project, and preparatory work continues on the site preparation for the Seidman project.

He added that the project is trying to keep things sustainable, using an online system to manage a portion of the documents involved with the construction. Because of the online system, Moyer said they have, to date, saved 5.5 trees and decreased office-to-office shipping by 208 days, which they expect will only generate more significant numbers at the completion of the projects.

“The goal is to have all of the work, except for the Library and Seidman Business building in Grand Rapids, completed by mid August so we are again ready for the start of a new school year,” Thimmesch said.

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