Some of this year’s Williams Hall residents were met with renovations when they moved in for the fall semester. To solve issues with water leaks and plumbing problems, half of Williams underwent construction during summer.
The changes included renovating the restrooms, redesigning the heating and cooling system and adding a new elevator, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Nathan Thomas.
“The work solves problems, prevents potential major disasters within the infrastructure of the building and provides a much needed facelift to the restrooms,” Thomas said.
According to Williams resident and sophomore theatre arts and television arts double major Hannah Kfoury, the new elevator was needed.
“The elevator was pretty old,” she said. “It would stop randomly and the doors would open. Now, it looks a lot nicer and operates better.”
In order to control the building’s heating and cooling, a shed was built on the roof of Williams to accommodate the HVAC units.
“It used to be so cold that my hands would get numb and I would wear gloves to type papers,” Kfoury said. “It is still a little cold but way better.”
Construction began May 15 and concluded a week before fall move-in day.
“We were on a very tight timetable,” Thomas said. “The construction crews were resilient and completed everything on time.”
Thomas said renovations are planned for the second half of the building next summer. This phase will also include work on the Williams lobby.
