Innovative Learning
Facilities Management’s renovation work enhances School of Nursing offerings
Over the past six years, Construction & Renovation Services staff installed more than 25 miles of wire by hand throughout all five floors of McLeod Hall. The $10 million renovation of the 40-year-old building has created a variety of unique spaces for UVA School of Nursing, including a sleek learning studio equipped with audiovisual technology near every work station.
The project to renovate the building — managed by Capital Construction & Renovations Supervisory Senior Project Manager Brian Pinkston and Construction & Renovation Services Construction Project Manager Kemper Tomlin — was done in phases with work on the second floor concluding earlier this year.
Capital Construction & Renovations Supervisory Senior Project Manager Brian Pinkston, Construction & Renovation Services Electrician Lead Joe Fitzgerald, School of Nursing Audiovisual Technician/Facilities Coordinator Becky Bowers and Construction & Renovation Services Construction Project Manager Kemper Tomlin
photo by Jane DeGeorge
In addition to the infrastructure upgrades to support advanced technology in classrooms and meeting spaces, the project created enhanced simulation and procedure labs, a café and coffee bar, videoconferencing rooms and two resiliency rooms available for yoga and meditation.
“A lot of schools pay close attention to physical environment, but ours is truly at the forefront in two regards: the formal, directed learning environment and the more open-ended, casual one,” said Dorrie K. Fontaine, professor and dean of the School of Nursing. “That the classrooms and gathering spaces are high-tech, malleable, and collaborative by design means our students will receive the kind of personal, close-up attention they need to become exceptional 21st century clinicians.”
In addition to the hand-installed wire, Construction & Renovation Services used more than seven and a half miles of conduit and more than two miles of new duct for the HVAC system, as well as approximately 3,000 sheets of sheetrock to replace walls and ceilings, according to Tomlin.
Throughout the project, School of Nursing Audiovisual Technician and Facilities Coordinator Becky Bowers and other school representatives worked closely with Facilities Management staff members to provide input regarding the renovation of the spaces.
“They’ve not been a customer, they’ve been a partner and that makes my job a thousand times easier,” said Tomlin.
New resilience room
photo by Jane DeGeorge
The funding for the project came from many different sources, which required creativity, according to Pinkston. “There were many times when it didn’t look like we were going to get enough funding but the project was compelling enough for us to pull it all together from lots of different funding sources,” said Chief Facilities Officer Don Sundgren.
While the building’s improvements are greatly valued by the school’s faculty and staff, members of the UVA and local communities can appreciate the upgrades as well. The resilience rooms are open to the public, both formally and informally, for mindfulness, meditation and yoga. A schedule of free weekly classes is available online at http://compassion.nursing.virginia.edu.
“We are proud to provide an environment that appeals to the cognitive, reflective and creative parts of our brain — and the best, most thoughtful physical space we can imagine,” added Fontaine. “That it represents the best of our collective imaginations means a lot, too.”
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Jane DeGeorge
Communications Generalist
Human Resources & Training
UVA Facilities Management
(434)982-5846
jad2tm@virginia.edu