No snow can fall into the new Faculty of Dentistry building now the roof is on. Photo: Fiona McDonald.
The roof is on the new Faculty of Dentistry building – where patients will be treated – and the floors have been poured on all four levels.
A crane has started to fit glass in the windows on the south and western façades, University of Otago Campus Development Division Director David Perry says.
More than 100 contractors are on site every day now as work on the Clinical Services Building really ramps up.
The pre-cast concrete cladding is also complete on the southern and western façades and almost on the northern – the eastern facade will be in the new atrium link to the existing Walsh Building.
Inside the new building, holes have already been drilled for all the services to the dental chairs.
A host of pipes, air conditioning ducting and trays for electric cables have also been installed in the past few months, along with large pieces of equipment, including air handling units and a clean steam generator that produces steam free of impurities.
Now, steel wall partitions are going up, a new Student Commons (social area) is being built on the site of the old one, and switchboards for the Clinical Services Building are on the site in Great King Street ready to be installed, Mr Perry says.
Construction of the Clinical Services Building is expected to be finished in November, then work will start on extensively redeveloping the Walsh Building as the final component in the $130 million project.
The faculty performs about 76,000 dental treatments annually for the public, hosts the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, and caters for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in dentistry, oral health and dental technology.
The faculty has been in its current building for 57 years, Mr Perry says.
Construction progress can be followed on a time-lapse web-cam that constantly refreshes its images.
The Campus Development Division is part of the Operations Group, which has three top priorities:
Enable – the University to achieve its visions and mission
Engage – with our students, each other, our customers and externally
Experience – of our students, our customers, and externally to be outstanding