Physical Plant Blog

Effective May 22, 2012, the Administrative offices of the Physical Plant Division will reside in “Dickinson” formerly UMPD.  This move (estimated 9 to 12 months) includes, the Executive Office of Patrick Daly, and the Administrative Offices for the Associate and Assistant Directors of Administrative Services, Grounds Management, Utilities/Engineering and Building Maintenance.

The Service Desk will also be relocated to the bottom floor of Dickinson. University keys can be picked up and dropped off at the Service Desk located in Dickinson on the bottom floor, west side entrance.

The dates for the annual Steam Shutdown have been changed.  This year’s Steam Shutdown will be from 05/14/12 to 06/05/12.

This year’s Physical Plant Annual Steam Shut Down has been scheduled. The dates for this Steam Shut Down are from May 13, 2012 to June 3, 2012.

The areas scheduled for repair and maintenance work during this year’s Steam Shut Down is all the Dormitories and Dining Commons in the Southwest Residential Area. Also Herter Hall, Whitmore, Isenberg, School of Management, Fine Arts and Mahar Auditorium will be affected.

The types of services that will be interrupted in these areas are steam, domestic hot water, and air conditioning. Individual building shut down notifications for Steam Shut Down 2012 have been sent out by the Physical Plant.

Please contact Tom Fydenkevez at phone number 545-3231 if you have any questions or comments about this evolution.

LGRC low rise library – 300 pieces of furniture and all the carpets (needed cleaning again due to construction)

Gunness student center – all furniture cleaned

ISB – auditorium seating cleaned as well as all common space furniture

Child care buildings – all carpets cleaned (per Maryanne Gallaghers request)

Boyden – 300 pieces of furniture in various class/computer rooms

ISOM/Alfond – all common area furniture completed

Goodell – honors area and any other common area furniture completed

Dubois library – all furniture on main, 1, 2, 3, and 5

Polymer – both auditoriums seating was all completed

Computer Science – all classroom chairs and common area furniture completed, about 250 pieces

FAC – some carpeting in concert hall perimeter

E lab II – all auditorium seating

All furniture listed is for upholstery cleaning

Physical Plant Construction Services installed six (6) BigBelly Solar Trash Compactors along the pedestrian corridor between Whitmore and DuBois Library.  BigBelly Solar Compactors are an innovative solar-powered waste collection system.  The BigBelly Trash Compactor has five times the capacity as ordinary trash can.  The BigBelly CLEAN Management Console, gives Physical Plant Landscape Services personnel real-time data, by e-mail, on the status of each compactor aiding our sustainability efforts in 70-80+% reductions in collection trips and associated operating costs, fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions are consistently achievable. Reduced collections yield deep cost efficiencies by freeing up valuable worker time, allowing managers to re-deploy staff to other important tasks, and reduce the costs and pollution of unnecessary vehicle trips.   As waste collects inside a BigBelly solar compactor (or single-stream recycling inside a BigBelly compacting recycler), an internal “eye” senses when the bin is filling and communicates that information back to the Command Center, generating a command to trigger a compaction cycle.  Our BigBelly Trash components have an enormous appetite for trash and recycling – keep feeding them!  We have plans to install six (6) Big Belly Compactors in DuBois Library.

We have a new addition to the Landscape Management Department. It is a 40’x25’ greenhouse that was purchased last year that is near completion. We purchased the greenhouse for a few reasons; one is that every year we spend thousands of dollars on annuals that we have grown by a local grower to put throughout the campus beds and planters. My goal is to drastically reduce the amount of money we spend purchasing when we can grow our own annuals from seed. We also have started an internship program with the Stockbridge School of Agriculture last year where students come to work for us and learn about their major. This year we have four Horticulture freshmen joining our team, the greenhouse will allow the students to “learn by doing” a daily part of their training will be growing, fertilizing, watering and caring for the plants. After the annuals have reached majority and the weather is right the students will create and design beds throughout the campus where we normally do not have them. Their job will also be to care for these flower beds through -out the summer months. We will also use the greenhouse for a staging area for commencement. The Landscape department does the purchasing and the set up for the graduate commencement at the Mullins Center and with graduation being so early (May 11^th) it is difficult to find plant material that is in bloom, with the greenhouse we can adjust the growing environment and try to push the plant material along for a better bloom.

The greenhouse installation was done completely in house my foreman Ray LaClaire headed up the installation with help from other staff members Jim Recore, Chris Drake, John Stosz,  The Stockbridge fraternity ATG also donated some of their time to help along with the installation. Construction Services, Electrical and Water Utilities installed all the lines for the project and will do all final hook ups for gas, power and water. It is nice to see everyone come together for a great cause. It truly is a win win for everyone, The University will be saving money, the students are getting hands on experience for their future, and the campus will have annual color through-out the season.

People have asked me how far you would like to see this go. I would like to see the university growing all there season color for the campus in the future  I would like to see the internship program grow to a whole new level where we can prepare our students for their careers, and possibly come back to work here at the University.

Physical Plant has added two new web forms to our page.  You may now electronically request keys and surplus equipment disposal.  Both forms are accessible from our main page at http://www.umass.edu/physicalplant/

A Bike Rack Locator has been added to the Physical Plant web site.  The page can be found at http://www.umass.edu/physicalplant/loops/index.html.

Under the leadership/direction of Physical Plant Landscape Management staff member Brian Konieczny, Yucca, Silver Sword (from Graduate Commencement 2011) plants were planted on the barren embankment at the entrance to the parking garage. This area has dry/hot soil with a steam line directly underneath. This planting is an example of xeriscaping – landscaping with little on water – a landscape in an extreme urban area. Stone mulch was used to enhance the desert effect.

Warner Brothers Construction Company began work at the Campus Center Circle in June. The existing bituminous concrete sidewalk was removed and will be replaced with concrete sidewalks. The starting point was the southwest corner of Flint Building and continued counter clockwise around the circle to the northeast corner of the parking garage. Granite curbing will also be installed and a bus drop off area will be created on the eastern side of the circle.

Physical Plant purchased and installed a bike shelter installed on the southwestern corner of the Student Union. The bike shelter will be available to the campus community. This is the first bike shelter on campus.

Physical Plant Construction Services began work to install granite curbing around the parking lot on the south side of the Physical Plant. The existing bituminous concrete curbing had chunks missing from snow plow damage.

Physical Plant Landscape and Construction Services staff removed plant material from the lawn area on the northwest corner of the student union. The area will be re-seeded allowing for a large open lawn area.

Starting on Tuesday July 5th and running approximately five weeks, or until completion, the fire hydrants on campus will undergo the annual flushing process.

Flushing will begin at 3:00 p.m. and run until 9:00 p.m. every weekday. The perimeter of the campus will be done early in the shift and the core later in the shift. We will notify residential areas two days before flushing. This will include North Village and Lincoln Apartments.

Users may notice a discoloration in the water due to the flushing. All one needs to do is run the water until it clears up.

If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please contact Tom Fydenkevez 413-230-2143.