Facilities Management Summer Projects Focus on Campus Cleanup and Semester Preparation


Facilities Management has been hard at work all summer cleaning, refreshing and repairing campus facilities and grounds in preparation for the start of the fall semester. This comprehensive and vast undertaking began in early July but was the end product of four to five months of pre-planning, budgeting, project meetings, contract preparation and execution, and strategic coordination by the facilities project management team. Every service and functional area within Facilities Management has played a significant role in the implementation of these numerous projects that will have impacted every corner of campus.

Total Projects Completed:                    161
Total Number of Projects Ongoing:         30

Project Highlights for Summer 2012

Interior Projects

  • Classroom buildings project cleaning – Dedicated cleaning crews have systematically and thoroughly cleaned all classrooms, restrooms, and points of entry, including stripping and refinishing floors.
  • Whiteboard and chalkboard replacement – Whiteboards and chalkboards have been replaced throughout the majority of classrooms and lecture halls across campus, many of which were no longer usable. Manufacturer’s cleaning and use instructions will be provided in each classroom to ensure continued optimum effectiveness.
  • Light bulb and fixture replacement and cleaning

Exterior Projects

  • Metal fencing and rails – This project focused on scraping, painting and general refresh of metal fencing surrounding mechanical areas outside of facilities as well as hand rails throughout campus.
  • Power washing of exterior campus wayfinding signage
  • Fire hydrant and fire hose sites – This project provided preventive maintenance on all fire hydrants and fire hose sites around campus, and coordinated fire marshal flow testing, painting and refresh, and installation/replacement of FDC signage.
  • Interior Campus Curb cut painting, weeding and cleanup near curbs, curb signage painting and refresh
  • Parking lot maintenance – Included selective asphalt and concrete repair and resurfacing, seal coating and striping.
  • Campus fountain refreshing – drain, clean and paint fountains throughout campus
  • General grounds and landscaping repairs – Project includes repair of bare spots and “cow paths” that have been created in strategic areas, and tree and stump removal and ground repair (will continue into the fall semester).
  • Kiosk installation – This project added five additional kiosk locations to campus
  • Trash can lid replacement – Clean and repaint/replace lids, and purchase new lids where necessary (will continue into the fall semester).
  • Campus Cleanup Day Event – This summer event sponsored by Facilities Management, Administration and Finance and Auxiliary Services brought more than 100 faculty, staff and student volunteers together to pick up trash, remove fliers from poles and buildings, scrape gum and tape debris from campus benches and sidewalks, and collect recyclables.  Volunteers collected more than 732 pounds of waste, an increase of 23% from last year’s cleanup day event.

This by no means captures every single aspect of the summer campus cleanup projects that have been performed throughout the summer. It is intended to help provide an overview of activities that have occurred during this summer-long focus as Facilities Management continues to make the campus clean.  Please contact Jim Norcom, Director, with any questions or comments, jgnorcom@central.uh.edu or 713.743.5804, or Melissa Rockwell-Hopkins, Executive Director, mrockwel@central.uh.edu or 713.743.8750, or the Facilities Service Center at 713.743.4948. To learn more about the programs and services of Facilities Management, please visit the website at http://uh.edu/plantops/departments/fm/ or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfHoustonPlantOperations.