Students returning to the N. Eldon Tanner Building this semester have been met with construction work, closed-off areas and a new room-numbering system as they get to class.
The five-year construction project began in April and is designed to update the building's infrastructure, improve safety and provide additional space for student-serving centers.
Many systems in the Tanner Building need updating to meet current code, according to Summer Elrod, an employee in the dean’s office of the Marriott School of Business.
“All of the exterior windows on the building are being replaced, and then many other HVAC systems. But the structural system is kind of the driver — the safety of the building,” Elrod said.
The Tanner Building was dedicated in 1983, making the building nearly 44 years old.
“The construction project began with a study of the building, and the question was asked, ‘What would it take to have this building last another 50 years?’ They brought in experts from many different industries,” Elrod said. “They put a dollar amount on what it would take and presented it for approval, and it was approved.”
Students have noticed the renovation.
“There’s like a whole floor that’s being constructed right now. There’s no rooms available there, and the flooring’s torn up and all that,” Kate Dickinson, a BYU student, said.
During the first week of classes, an Information Systems class in one of the Tanner Building’s lecture halls had several rows of chairs sectioned off. Dickinson said this caused some of her classmates to sit on the ground.
Some students believed the sectioned-off chairs were related to the construction in the building, but Elrod clarified the incident was unrelated to the ongoing project. She said overflowed fountains in the building caused it earlier in the summer.
“It just caused a little bit of a mess,” Elrod said.
One of the most significant changes for students and faculty has been the new room numbering system. The Tanner Building is switching to the campus-standard four-digit room-numbering code.
“I think for a lot of students and faculty coming back, the classroom they once knew as a certain name has changed dramatically. I think that was a little bit of an adjustment that students had to make,” Elrod said.
For more information on the construction, visit The Marriott School website.