11/06/2014

Update #13:

This note serves as the bi-weekly update on the work associated with the move of IPS offices to the new building at 1610 University Avenue, in Knoxville. The committee discussions are captured in the SharePoint site at
https://utworks.tennessee.edu/ips/1610/SitePages/Home.aspx .

1. The project has changed.
All of the project team members were asked to review the project with Herb Byrd and Jim Thomas on October 27, and from this meeting we discussed the project, recommendations and schedule. We also discussed the original goal to move most of staff into hardened offices, but the need to keep the project on schedule resulted in having to accept the building mostly “as is”, with a plan to have a later phase to get the offices that we initially wanted. Over the past 6 months the project has been delayed for a number of reasons, but one of the benefits with these delays has been that during this time the State Building Commission approved a ceiling on the project that allows us to expand the project scope without a great delay to the schedule. During the October meeting we discussed how to get back to the initial plan, at least for the first floor, and as a result have asked UT Facilities Services to price an expansion of the project.

They have done so, and the results look promising. New construction documents are to be developed over the next few weeks to incorporate the office changes and the team discussions from the past several months. This expansion includes the concept that we initially wanted for the first floor, with subdivision of the larger rooms, hard walls, hallways and other improvements. We asked to keep 2 training rooms on the 1st floor as outlined on the latest plans from Brewer, Ingram Fuller, and to keep the library and seating area in the center of the floor. We also hope to renovate the break rooms on both floors, subdivide the storage room (Room 113) on the 1st floor, and subdivide Room 205 into 2 or more offices. The price appears affordable, at about $200,000 more, and by doing the work now we hope to avoid the cost of ripping out the carpet and other improvements with a second project phase in the next few years.

We will be sharing space on the 2 ^nd floor with staff from the UT Foundation, and the Foundation is also expecting to convert a few of the cubicle areas into offices.

Our understanding is that this expanded scope can accomplished without dramatically impacting the project in the other building at 1525 University Ave. for the Foundation.

This is always subject to change, but overall I see this as a much better project for all of us.

2. The project now moves into the second stage.
Although the documents are not yet finalized with the changes above, the work is underway. This moves the project from the construction planning stage to planning more for the move. The cubicles are being dismantled and relocated to the building at 1525 University Ave. This will allow the improvements and renovations at the IPS building, and at the conclusion of the IPS project some of these cubicles and office furniture will be returned and set up in the configuration that IPS has selected. Wiring for the data and phone connections is underway, and the elevator is under repair.

The logistics team will continue to work on planning for the actual move, and is also working on shared parking arrangements with the 2 nearby churches.

Paint and carpet have been generally approved. The campus has asked that this building incorporate the color orange into the walls and furniture, and the planning team is working with the design staff on this.

The relocation of the library shelving system in MTAS is still under review with the State Fire Marshall’s Office.

The members of the project planning teams include the following, and please do contact me or the members of the teams if you have questions or need further information:

	Team Lead	Central Office	MTAS	Team Assignments
Planning	Rick Whitehead	Susan Robertson	Stephanie Allen	Renovations/space assignment
		Steve Thompson	Macel Ely	Painting/carpet
		Beth Phillips	Doug Brown	Furniture
		Jill Marling
Logistics	Judie Martin	Gary Peevely	Nancy Gibson	Parking/signage
		Walter Idol	P. J. Snodgrass	Mail/ID cards
		Jane Davis	Brett Ward	Packing/Moving
Business office	Gail White	Thaddeus Grace	Sherri Brown	Files
		Dale Wolfe
IT	Scott Gordy	N/A	Justin O'Hara	IT, telephones, equipment, security
Library	Frances Adams-O'Brien	N/A	Becky Smeltzer	MTAS library relocation

Thank you for your service to the university and the state of Tennessee, and I do look forward to a successful move.

Steve

Steven T. Thompson
Assistant Vice President
UT Institute for Public Service
105 Student Services Bldg.
Knoxville, TN 37996-0213
865-974-9609 Telephone
239-963-6738 Cell

www.ips.tennessee.edu