The new Optometry Building is cur­rently right on sched­ule and will be fin­ished within less than a year.

The new Michigan College of Optometry (MCO) Building, known as The Center for Collaborative Healthcare Education, is going to be com­pletely fin­ished on Jan. 3, 2011, accord­ing to Tim Ward, project man­ager for Clark Construction Company.

Clark Construction Company has been work­ing on the build­ing since May 2009.

“The project is on sched­ule, due some very coop­er­a­tive weather this win­ter,” said Ward.

Ward said exca­va­tion of the build­ing is fin­ished. The foun­da­tions are com­pleted and the slabs on decks have been poured on the south half of the sec­ond and third floor.

“It’s been going very well,” said Michael Hughes, asso­ciate vice pres­i­dent of the phys­i­cal plant. “We’re start­ing to enclose the build­ing and put the metal studs around; that’s going to be some notice­able progress you’ll see in the next week or so.”

Hughes said they added a sec­ond work shift to the project begin­ning at 3 to 4 a.m. so the trucks can get through with­out being delayed by uni­ver­sity traf­fic. He also said on Monday, April 12 they began work­ing two shifts from 7 to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 12 a.m.

In the Allied Health park­ing lot on west cam­pus, the Clark Construction team is cur­rently con­duct­ing an on-going excavation.

“The struc­tural steel is now com­plete, metal stud par­ti­tions are being con­structed and the roof is going on,” said Hughes.

Hughes said the mechan­i­cal, elec­tri­cal and plumb­ing sys­tems are get­ting installed, as well as the new den­tal clinic park­ing lot (Lot 41) on the south side of the Allied Health Building. The park­ing lot is sched­uled to open on May 17.

In terms of bud­get, Hughes said they are still on schedule.

Hughes cau­tions the Ferris com­mu­nity to stay safe and con­scious around the con­struc­tion area due to truck traf­fic and heavy equipment.

“We don’t want any­one to walk so close they’ll end up get­ting hurt,” said Hughes.

MCO will offer vision screen­ings to the com­mu­nity and stu­dents. It will also include an Eye Care/Vision Clinic that will offer clin­i­cal optom­e­try to stu­dents, interns and residents.

In addi­tion, it will be the first aca­d­e­mic build­ing in uni­ver­sity his­tory to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) cer­ti­fied. n