Moving plan for the Sherman Center to begin in January
| By Michael Cohen | October 26, 2012 |
| UMass Medical School Communications | |
Work continues apace at the Albert Sherman Center (ASC), with Suffolk Construction Company on target to achieve the milestone of “substantial completion” of the new building by mid-December.
Once that milestone is reached, and the appropriate state and local inspections have been completed, the Medical School will take formal possession of the 500,000 square-foot research and education facility and launch a phased plan for occupying the building.
“The Sherman Center is on time, on budget and greatly anticipated by the students, faculty and staff who will shortly begin to meet and work there,” Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medicine, executive deputy chancellor, provost, dean of the School of Medicine and professor of pediatrics and Robert E. Jenal, executive vice chancellor for administration and finance, wrote in a memo to the campus community this week explaining the schedule for occupancy.
The projected move-in schedule for the ASC is as follows:
Between mid-December and mid-January, Suffolk Construction and the commissioning team will complete the final work of preparing the building for use, including the placement of furniture and equipment so that the first departments and programs can begin to move in starting in mid-January
Given the logistics involved, the move will occur in several phases, in order to manage the number of people moving into the building, the staffing resources required and the efficient use of the loading dock and elevators.
The first phase will begin on or about Jan. 14 and include primarily those research labs and departments that are being relocated from Biotech Five. This phase includes cardiovascular and gene therapy research programs, and some labs from the Program in Molecular Medicine, the Diabetes Center of Excellence and the Program in Bioinformatics & Integrative Biology. The learning communities and simulation suites will also be moved in this first phase.
The second phase will begin on or about Feb. 18 and will include faculty, staff and research programs in the Department of Microbiology & Physiological Systems, the Program in Systems Biology and the RNA Therapeutics Institute (RTI).
Phase three of the move, which is targeted for March 25 through April 26, will include the balance of research programs in the RTI, the Diabetes Center of Excellence, the Department of Neurology and the Department of Pathology. The café and fitness center are scheduled to open during this phase.
The final phase, which is expected to occur from the end of April through May 27, will include academic administrative programs and faculty and programs in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences. This phase will include the Center for Experiential Learning and Simulation , including the standardized patient programs and the balance of the simulation program; Continuing Medical Education; and the GSN Graduate Entry Pathway program.
The 1,400-space parking garage under construction on Plantation Street is also on schedule, and will open in mid to late December. The new garage is for employee and student parking only. Employees assigned to off-campus shuttle lots will be assigned to this new seven-level parking garage. Shuttle service will be available between the garage and the campus. Additional information about parking in the new garage will be provided nearer the opening date.