UW-Madison will see major campus changes on campus in upcoming years under the 2015 to 2017 university capital budgetary plans that Madison’s Joint West Campus Area Committee discussed at a meeting Wednesday.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning and Management Bill Elvey came to the committee with a presentation on the university’s capital budget overview for 2015 to 2017, which included renovations and additions to numerous buildings on campus.
The Southeast Recreational Facility upgrade was a topic that Elvey said students heavily supported. The SERF is one part of the $223 million Rec Sports Master Plan intended to improve various recreational facilities currently on campus.
Campus officials plan to introduce a NCAA Division I pool with spectator seating and a diving well in the SERF.
“That whole facility is at the end of its useful life even though it’s only 30 something years old,” Elvey said. “All the systems in there need to be replaced.”
Campus officials are awaiting approval from the Board of Regents at a meeting in December to select a design team and initiate architectural plans. Elvey said officials are hoping to begin construction in the spring of 2015.
In addition to SERF improvements, the committee also discussed upgrading the Near West Fields.
“The drains are so poor on the side that 40 to 50 percent of the activities that are scheduled out there are canceled sometimes for days at a time after we get a rain storm,” Elvey said. “The proposal is that these will be converted into synthetic turf fields.”
The approximately $6.7 million project will also include drains that are expected to retain more water after rainfalls and a new design of the five fields that will facilitate an overlaying championship field.
The committee also discussed improving the Chemistry Building, a $107,760,000 project alone, because of outdated technology and limited lecture space for students.
