Rio Grande Campus Renovations
By Paul Mason, Rio Grande Renovations Project Manager

RGC 1000 is quickly nearing completion. However, the college experienced a minor delay of a couple of weeks due to the impacts of a COVID-related shutdown that stopped progress of the work earlier in January. Construction is now back up and running at full speed. For the next two weeks, the focus will be on trying to pass all the City of Austin final inspections for plumbing, mechanical, electrical, fire, and ultimately, the building overall. The issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy is wholly dependent on how those inspections go. We have built in a range of final inspection approval dates to accommodate some unforeseen hiccups.

As for the work itself, 95 percent of all the flooring, decorative ceilings, and decorative walls inside the building are installed. Only a few issues are being tracked due to damaged material that arrived on site that needs to be reordered. All the decorative lighting fixtures have been installed on all levels. The stainless steel handrail systems are also being installed. The installation of audio/visual systems, including the projectors, screens, wall-mounted TVs, etc., are starting to be installed by the A/V subcontractor, Whitlock. This process will take several weeks to complete, but it's not work tied to the final inspections. ACC and the design team have performed architectural punch inspections to note all cosmetic deficiencies on all floors. The general contractor will spend the next several weeks addressing those issues and we will re-walk the building to make sure those items were appropriately corrected later in February. We expect a "final clean" of the building to happen at that time, right before handoff to ACC for ownership.

Significant progress has also been made around the building grounds. The landscaping work is about 85 percent complete. The decorative pavers have been installed in the courtyards and exterior handrails are being installed at ramps and stairs. The landscaping beds are being prepped for the planting of shrubs, cacti, and smaller trees. The dumpster pads, walls, and gates have been installed as well.

By the end of February, the building should be deemed substantially complete and ready for occupancy, once we pass all of the inspections noted above.

Highland Campus 2014 Bond Phase 2
By Pamela Collier, ACC Highland Phase 2 Project Manager

HLC2 is complete, except for minor touch-ups and testing/commissioning, and open for the spring semester.