Asbestos tiles were recently found in Hearnes Hall, but Phsyical Plant Director Bob Harrington said there’s little to worry about.

“Unless you break the floor tile up into real fine dust and throw it up in the air and breathe it, it’s not going to hurt you,” Harrington said, “But it’s a federal requirement that it be properly abated and removed by a certified company.”

This portion of the Hearnes Hall renovation project will cost the school $34,000 and will be completed in three parts.

“It’ll take them about a week, week and a half to finish the floors and what we’re doing is basically we’re going to do it in three sections,” Harrington said. “They’ll take one area and contain it, get all of the asbestos out of it, and then move into the second area and while they’re in there the contractor can go back in and start working on taking down the block walls and other work that they have to do on that floor.”

The contractors are expected to move into the first part of the contained area within a week after a specialist confirms there is no danger of inhaling asbestos in the area. This will allow for the construction part of the project to resume and hopefully be finished by April.

More office moving will occur in the building shortly after the first floor is finished, which is expected to be completed in a year to a year and a half, costing the school $2,105,579.75 with a contingency of $82,087.50.

Design plans for the second floor are currently in development, and renovations are expected to start soon.

 “We are working with the architects to design it,” Harrington said.

“If we get [the first floor] done in April I would expect we can start construction on it probably late spring or early summer of next year and get the second floor done. When that’s done we’ll move everybody back down into their right places … into their final offices.”

Harrington is excited to see how the project will turn out and has high hopes for the impression the project will leave on incoming students and their families.

“It’s going real well and it’s really neat,” he said. “I think the first floor is going to make a good front door to the University. The way we’re enclosing that open patio area and making it a natural entrance will really have a wow factor for the new students, and instead of having furniture that looks like it’s from the 60s, it’s going to look modern and leave a good impression on our students and our families as they come in.”