Hillman patio construction expected to wrap up in spring

After years of waiting, the completion of repairs to the patio around Hillman Library is finally…After years of waiting, the completion of repairs to the patio around Hillman Library is finally scheduled for this spring.

For Pitt administrators, replacing the 40-year-old patio has proven a major headache.

According to an article published by The Pitt News in April 2010, University administrators expected that construction teams would repair the “waterproofing membrane surface,” located under the stone patio, by the summer of 2010.

But Pitt spokesman John Fedele said in an email on Thursday that this initial project developed leaks, forcing a redevelopment of construction plans that moved its completion date back to this spring, adding that “the solution has been complex from an engineering and legal perspective.”

“Though the first efforts to stop the leaks were unsuccessful, this summer, the University completed negotiations with the architect and contractors on an agreement to finish the project by spring,” Fedele said.

While fortunes appear to be in the favor of Pitt administrators and the Massaro Corporation, the contractor employed for the patio construction project, patrons and employees of the Hillman Library have endured some of the project’s bothersome side effects.

Robert Hallead, an employee in the library’s Interlibrary Loan Department, said the construction forced library administrators to turn off central air conditioning on the building’s first floor, causing temperatures in the closed-in department to reach 88 degrees at times.

He added that other library employees on the ground floor have commented on the heat caused by the lack of air conditioning.

But recently, according to Hallead, noise from the patio’s construction has caused additional problems for Interlibrary Loan Department patrons and employees.

“Now, they’re jackhammering above us, so, you know, that constant jackhammering can be a little bit of a nuisance,” Hallead said.

Students who use the library as a study area have similar grievances with the patio construction project’s recently amped-up efforts.

Senior William Bird, who often studies at the Hillman Library, said the construction is bothersome.

“Every time, I have to go around to the front of Hillman to walk into Hillman, when I used to just be able to walk up the back patio, which was a lot easier,” Bird said. “So it’s kind of annoying for me.”