Dear Sandels Building Colleagues and Students,
I hope everyone had an excellent spring break. I’m pleased to report there has been steady progress on addressing the health and safety concerns related to the Sandels Building over the past two weeks.
• The licensed independent contractor performed HVAC duct cleaning and began refurbishing the system’s air handlers. In addition, portions of the HVAC system have been treated with a protective coating to reduce the accumulation of dust over time. This work is ongoing and will require periods of limited building occupancy in the coming months.
• FSU Facilities, FSU Environmental Health & Safety, the industrial hygienist and the toxicologist met with an external engineering firm to help determine the correct subsequent steps to address radon mitigation and the other remedial renovations being planned for the building. During a site visit this week, designers from the engineering firm gathered the initial data required to develop the radon mitigation system schematics and improvements to basement ventilation.
• FSU Facilities is in the process of examining the exterior of the building to determine where water may be entering the building envelope and is moving forward with corrective actions.
• As we continue in Phase 1 of the project, bookshelves on exterior walls on the north side of floors 2, 3, & 4 will need to be removed to address moisture and possible mold damage. We’re requesting that occupants remove personal items on or within 3 feet of the bookshelves by the close of business Wednesday, April 6. As with any construction process, it is important to protect personal items in the office that are of special significance or are irreplaceable. Please remove any items you do not want contractors to pack and secure by April 5. After April 6, we will carefully box up any other items that remain.
• Remediation in the ground floor basement area will begin soon, and we look forward to working with faculty members with space in the basement to address many of the issues and concerns that have been brought forward. We anticipate the basement area will need to be shut down for an extended period while work is performed on the HVAC system and building envelope. It is likely that furniture and equipment in the basement will need to be temporarily relocated, and we will proactively work with the faculty and the dean to gain a full understanding of their needs before any equipment is relocated on a temporary basis.
• The chemical inventory list from the fourth floor of the building has been posted to sandelsresponse.fsu.edu. It is available in the Documents tab.
While we are still on schedule to complete all the necessary repairs, renovations, and remediations to the Sandels Building by the start of the fall semester, the coming weeks will be critical to keeping us on track. For your health and safety, during certain phases of the remediation, restoration, and renovation work areas on specific floors will be made temporarily off-limits for staff and students. Please abide by posted signs that will redirect travel around work being performed. It will help the contractors adhere to the anticipated timeline if areas of the building that are closed for remediation or repairs are truly unoccupied during the designated times.
I sincerely appreciate your steadfast engagement as I continue to provide weekly updates. The health and safety of the campus community remains our top priority.
If you have any questions that have not been specifically addressed in one of my updates, on the Sandels Response website or in the FAQs, please email sandelsresponse@fsu.edu, and we will try to answer your individual questions to the best of our ability.
Best regards,
Jim Clark
Provost
Note: Messages submitted sandelsresponse@fsu.edu may be subject to disclosure pursuant to Florida’s public records laws. To ensure the privacy and protection of your personal health information (PHI), please do not submit any PHI or private health details via this website or email.