VPR's Internal Facility Expansion & Renovation Project Blog: Continuity Update for August 19, 2016

This is not the train Patti is taking,
this one carries Russian mail.

Hello! Patti is taking a train across Russia so I'm blogging in her absence.

Construction work is generally slowing down as we near the final 5% of the project, but we still have activity to report, and of course lots of pictures of progress.

As ever, your feedback, questions and ideas make the project better so please leave your comments here when you feel inspired to do so.

On to the good stuff.
- Heather

General Timeline

We are aiming to have the construction project completed by September 1st. This doesn't mean every single little thing will be finished, however it does mean that what remains will be considered one-off items that will be addressed as supplies/items arrive or we can secure a specific subcontractor's time. We anticipate that "every single thing" will be completed closer to the end of October. For perspective, when originally approved the construction project was scheduled to begin in January of FY17! #winning

To clarify an earlier note I sent to the full staff, we are expecting construction of Studio One to be complete by September 1st as well, which means at that point they hand it over to our studio engineers for them to pick up the work on a significant studio engineering job which must be completed to get the studio itself working together with the control room. The full timing of this is not yet 100% clear.

As for our staff desk moves (which include moving back into the historic building), we are going to avoid some self-inflicted pain and schedule those moves for October. We will be able to use and get into the historic building in September and plan to do some other things such as re-rack the CDs and work on the shared spaces.

More timing questions? Hit up the comments below.

Tour Time

Brian Donahue is going to offer a tour to anybody who would like it on August 25th at 9:30AM. Meet up in the cafe. Brian's tours come with ample background and predictive information about our building's progress and future, so it's not just an up close look at what's in the pictures. Get on the tour, it will be good!

What's happening and when for construction activity

Carpeting of the historic building will start on or close to August 29th. They will install it first in Studios B&C so that studio engineering work on those studios can be completed and VPR Classical can return to broadcasting from their newly renovated home in Studio B. After the studios are done, carpeting will start in the Green Room and roll out to the front of the historic building.
Cabinetry outside of Talk Studio and Master Control is expected to be finished by August 26th at which time the bright yellow plastic doors to that area will be removed. Cabinet makers are expected to be working within the designated quiet hours so there shouldn't be on-air noise interruptions.
Railings for the front porch and the street front VPR sign are being installed this week.
CD shelves are scheduled to be installed in their new spot August 22 & 23.
Meeting room monitors (to replace old travel projector screens) are being installed now and in the coming week.
Concrete floor resurfacing (that means a resilient slip-resistant sealer to protect from our ample spillage of coffee) will happen in the lobby, cafe, bathrooms, and Studio One. That's expected to take place on a Saturday yet to be determined, and will be a low odor since it's a water based product.