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The Library – A Case History in Mismanagement

 
Key points:

• The price for both the library and science center went up well beyond the original projections.  Only one board member at one meeting voted to limit costs.

• Colgate makes much of the cost of materials and inflation as the cost of the overrun. There is no mention of unrealistic expectations to keep the library open during construction, changing architects, redesigning the plans, starting over, etc. These are actions that one would expect to be recorded and approved by the Trustees as a body but they are glossed over and barely mentioned in minutes. 

• Cost overruns and flexible guarantees are but two of numerous failings.  The original completion date for Case was fall of 2005, a deadline that was missed by almost two years.  The Class of 2007 was without a library for their junior year and all but two months of their senior year. 
  
  
• The hiring of an outside construction manager on the eve of breaking ground was not enough to save the project as originally envisioned by a committee of university administrators. This committee had little or no construction experience, yet had been tasked with overseeing one of the most complicated American university library projects ever undertaken.
  
  

Timeline for Case Library and Information Center (CLIC)

January 10-13, 1999
The building committee chairman recommends a study to be made of the proposed Case Library expansion before decisions are made. This good advice, if followed, may have prevented costly mistakes.

May 18, 2001
Colgate University President Karelis said, “The various projects (library and science center) add up to more than one might expect, and there might be more pressing needs than buildings.”  

January 9, 2002
Treasurer David Hale reports the anticipated budget for Case Library renovations to be $37 million - $40 million.

March 19, 2002  
CLIC project in competing architect presentation stage.  The winning firm, Pickard-Chilton Architects, had never designed a state-of-the art university library. 

May 18, 2002:
Treasurer David Hale reports,  "Case Library Renovation/Expansion estimated to cost $40 million with the vast majority of the expenditures expected to occur from fiscal 2002-03 through 2004-05.”

Sept. 28, 2002
Constraints influencing the design as well as the process to reconcile program and project costs to meet the budget of $40 million are reviewed.

Nov. 22, 2002 
Maroon News cites a projected increase to $45 million for the original estimate of $40 million. 

January 8, 2003
The Board of Trustees agrees to spend an additional $5 million to repair the library facade and roof.

Editor’s Comment: How did the architects or Colgate’s maintenance department miss that the existing building would require $5 million in repairs? Ultimately, the building was replaced, not renovated, so the $5 million – and finally $21 million - that was added to the cost did not include a repair to the roof.

January 25, 2004
Proposed design for Case Library and Info Tech Center approved for $43.5 M.

March 28, 2004
Construction manager hired.  Colgate has raised $8 million of the $10 million needed to meet Mr. Benton’s $10 million challenge for funding CLIC.

May 15, 2004
Groundbreaking ceremony for CLIC

Oct. 9, 2004
Cost limits set:  $45M-$47M for Case Library

November 9, 2004
More than two and half years after Pickard-Chilton Architects win the contract, the project stops and a new team of Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot, Architects of Boston.  The project is largely scrapped and new plans are developed.

November 17-18, 2004
Treasurer’s Report by David Hale:  renovation of Case Library ($45 million)

January 30, 2005
The Case Library project, with 100% completion of the schematic design, has a new budget estimate of $50.3 million and a guaranteed maximum price date of May 2005. 

May 14, 2005 
Case Library and Center for Info Technology construction estimate at $51.8M, plus $550K for green and terraced roofs (revised upward from Jan 2005 estimate). These estimates do not include associated campus infrastructure work of approximately $5 M.  

December 2005
Construction re-starts with new plans.

Sept 30, 2006 
The Board determines that operating costs of the Case Library will come from campaign gifts and “aggressive price increases.”  The board approved, with one opposing vote, raising the budget on Case Library from $52.5M to $57.5M. 

March 17, 2007
Case Library and Information Center opens just two months before the Class of 2007 will graduate.  The original completion date was the fall of 2005.

November 6, 2007
Board of Trustees approves $60.4 million for all costs associated with the renovation and expansion of CLIC.  An additional $3 million contingency was set-aside for any additional costs of finishing the two structures.

Background

In 2000, Mark Spiro was hired by Colgate University as vice president for administrative services. Spiro left a 22-year career at Cornell College School of Engineering where he held various management positions including associate dean in the School of Engineering. At Cornell, he led “faculty, administration and building professionals through the conceptual and design phases for Duffield Hall, a $62.5 million project.”  Spiro left Cornell for Colgate before Duffield Hall was finished in the fall of 2004, about 15 months past the originally completion date.

At Colgate, Mark Spiro led the team that hired Pickard Chilton Architects Inc., of New Haven, CT, as the initial design architects for the Case Library project. They won the contract even though the firm had no experience in designing a state-of-the art library and information center.  Anthony Markese of Pickard Chilton was the design principal.  Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc., of Houston was the architect of record.

Colgate had several criteria for the library.  They didn’t want to move any off-sight storage of materials.  This necessitated an automated retrieval system, which required a state-of-the-technology system.  They didn’t want the library closed down while the “renovation” was underway.  This second criteria, and the idea that the library was a renovation, as opposed to  new  construction, created a lot of pressure on the staff, students and contractors.  At one point, the college issued earplugs to students to help decrease the noise level of workers jack hammering in the basement.

Archived files were housed in off-site locations and were unavailable to access for about two years.  The staff was constantly working around the construction.

The original construction project for Case broke ground May 15, 2004.  Pickard Chilton spent several million dollars trying to beef up the structure, but within six months, it was clear there was a problem with the plan.  “A mutual decision that Pickard Chilton would withdraw from the design team was solely due to a change in the University’s aesthetic objectives relating to a portion of the exterior of the building.” Maroon News 11/12/2004.  Details about the project have been scrubbed from the Pickard Chilton website.

The original plan included a winter garden on the fifth floor of the library, which caused the staff great concern about what would happen to the books if there should be a leak. 

New architects were hired, Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbot, Architects of Boston.  They recommended scrapping the entire project and starting over.  At one point, it was suggested that the library remain open during the demolition.  The staff protested that they wouldn’t have walls and it was agreed that the library staff would move out. 

The interim library was housed in the James B. Colgate Hall, Donovan’s Pub, and the former Cutten Dining Hall. The Edge and Frank Dining Halls were kept open late during finals and peak study times.

The plan was halted for six months while new plans were drawn and the project restarted.  The project re-started in December 2005.  The library opened March 18, 2007, to counter the charge by graduating seniors that they had been without a library in their junior and senior years at Colgate.

The automated retrieval system was built. Approximately 400,000 books/tapes/films etc. are stored in the huge vault, which is located on the water run-off side of the hill, a concern for staff. 

The Library is designed as a “Smart” building.  Windows do not open and the heating control for the whole building is run from a single source.  Temperatures inside the building may range from 50 to 90 in the same day throughout the building.  The lights are on 24/7 because there are no light switches.  The lights will go off in offices in personnel sit still for too long.  There are no obvious overrides for heat or light control. Exterior doors on fifth floor (accessible by a bridge) “can’t be locked and keep the building open by utilizing only the level 3 exits, since anyone passing by the motion detector will automatically unlock it because it is designed as a fire egress for security reasons” Maroon News 2/14/08. 

The offices were designed without input from personnel who be using them.  Electrical outlets are oddly situated and many staff members have extension cords running across floors and desks.  As the project wore on and costs mounted, there were efforts to cut back on expenses.  One example: the balconies around the building are not coded as sufficiently strong enough for people to stand on, even though there are doors leading to them.  The doors are considered fire exits.

Mark Spiro left Colgate shortly before the Ho Science Center was near completion. Presumably, he was bought-out of his contract.  He is no longer listed in the Colgate directory.  Joe Bello was the initial project manager.  Physical Plant Project Manager Vito Bolognone was named project manager by Nov. 2006.