To:

American University Community

From:

Doug Kudravetz, CFO, Vice President and Treasurer

Subject:

Campus-wide Construction and Website

As the fall semester begins, you will notice that portions of American University’s main campus are blocked off for construction, and some of our streets and sidewalks are temporarily closed. The construction under way includes the new Hall of Science building, and a two-year infrastructure project to change the underground steam lines that bring heat to all of the main campus buildings.

To keep you posted on all the locations and times of the latest construction work, temporary road and pedestrian walkway closures, and suggested alternate routes, we have established a Construction On Campus website. Be sure to visit this website regularly for the latest updates. You also will receive updates via the Four Winds screens located throughout campus and Twitter.

Note: During move-in weekend, August 16 – 19, all pedestrian walkways will remain open.

The steam line project is part of AU’s continuing efforts to ensure that infrastructure throughout the campus meets the highest levels of quality, reliability, and safety standards. Current steam lines will be replaced with low-temperature hot-water lines to serve our heating needs. Included in this project is the replacement of domestic water lines and chilled water lines.  

Benefits from the new heating system and high-efficient boiler plant include:

• Reliability and energy and carbon savings for the future.
• Decrease in fossil fuel consumption by more than 10 percent.
• Decrease in grid electricity consumption by more than 35 percent.
• 50 percent reduction in campus energy carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 5,000,000 trees each year, 8,700 barrels of oil, or the approximate equivalent of removing the entire existing AU central heating system.

The new Hall of Science building that is being constructed will be a three-story, state-of-the-art facility that will house the university’s biology, environmental sciences, chemistry, and neuroscience departments in a modern, centralized location. 

We thank you in advance for your patience and we will do our best to minimize any inconvenience the work may cause to the AU community.