New buildings approved for Greensburg and Bradford campuses

By SUSAN JONES

Funding for two new buildings on Pitt’s regional campuses and for the second phase of construction on Allen Magee Scaife Hall was approved July 8 by the Board of Trustees Property and Facilities Committee.

Bradford engineering

Work is slated to begin in August on an Engineering and Information Technologies Building at the Bradford campus and be completed by next summer.

“It is the first academic building that the campus has built in two decades, and it’s going to provide a state-of-the-art home for our computer information systems and technology program, as well as two new engineering technology programs,” Rick Esch, interim president of Pitt–Bradford, said in a news release.

The cost of the 39,500-square-foot building is projected to be $24.5 million. It will include engineering shops and labs, computer labs, a campus data center and active large group classrooms. The cost also includes relocation, adjustment and tie-ins to existing campus utilities.

Designed by HED of Michigan, the building will be constructed on the lawn of Hanley Library. Rycon Construction Inc. of Pittsburgh will be the general contractor. 

The two new programs — mechanical engineering technology and energy engineering technology — will offer the first four-year degrees in engineering on the Bradford campus. Currently, the campus has a two-year pre-engineering program in which students transfer to another school to complete their degree.

The Information Technology program’s labs and offices currently are spread across three different buildings, but will be consolidated in the new space.

Greensburg life sciences

Rendering of Pitt–Greensburg new Life Sciences Building

A new 32,000-square-foot building on the Greensburg campus will be geared to handle an increased demand for nursing education in Westmoreland County.

The two-story Life Sciences Building, which will connect to Smith Hall, will create a unified Life Sciences Complex. It will house a nursing clinical lab, simulation suites, chemistry and biology lab and support spaces, a computer lab, a nursing administration suite, student lounge space and support space.

Pitt–Greensburg launched its four-year nursing degree program in 2017 and graduated its first cohort in May.

“Our goal is to provide quality educational opportunities for our students, enabling them to graduate and fill the growing vacancies among regional and state healthcare providers and other high priority STEM occupations,” Pitt–Greensburg President Robert Gregerson said. 

The new building will be designed by Pittsburgh-based MacLachlan Cornelius & Filoni. The estimated cost is $19.3 million and work is scheduled to begin in August and be completed by October 2022, according to Scott Bernotas, associate vice chancellor for Facilities Management. The facility would then be open for classes in the spring of 2023. 

The school received a $500,000 Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program grant earlier this year, which will go toward construction of the new building.

Alan Magee Scaife Hall

The final project approved by the committee was the second phase of the Alan Magee Scaife Hall upgrade and modernization on the Oakland campus. The $30 million project will include work on approximately 47,400 square feet on four floors on the west side of the existing building to upgrade teaching and student spaces.

Modern lecture halls, laboratories and group study spaces will be constructed to support team-based learning and student interaction. The existing classrooms will be reoriented to serve as a hub for the six schools of the Health Sciences. The mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure on the building’s west side also will be updated.

Phase 1 of Scaife Hall renovations are going on now and are expected to be completed by July 2022, Bernotas said. Phase 2 will begin in July 2022.

The entire $129 million project includes 110,000 square feet of new construction in a new west wing and 47,000 square feet of renovations. 

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

 

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