College goes after mold

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College goes after mold

Saddleback shuts down the Business and General Studies Building

while renovations are completed.

By AMANDA GLOWISH

The Orange County Register - Orange County,CA

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/life/education/article_1553016.p

hp

The Business and General Studies Building at Saddleback College has

been closed for renovations to rid the building of mold discovered

more than two years ago.

Around 1,200 students who regularly take classes in the 80,000-

square-foot building are now listening to lectures and taking notes

in 17 new portable units.

The estimated $7 million in renovations to the BGS building, built

in 1984, are expected to be complete by the end of the year.

" Every square inch will be checked and ensured that it's clean, "

Ozurovich, the college's director of facilities, maintenance

and operations, said.

Until the building was closed Jan. 8 for the work, about 20 percent

of it had been sealed off. The air quality in the building was

routinely checked and remained safe for students and faculty, Rajen

Vurdien, vice president for instruction, said.

Much of the Business and General Studies Building will be gutted.

Workers expect to replace the windows, the interior drainage system,

floors and ceilings. All of the mold will be removed, Ozurovich said.

The mold is the result of improperly made and installed windows,

which allowed water to drain into walls. There was also a problem

with the roof drainage system. The roof has since been replaced.

The portables, which house 35 classrooms, cover about 50,000 square

feet in an area of the campus referred to as the Village.

Construction of the portables was done in four different phases and

took a little over a year to complete. Total construction cost was

between $8 million and $9 million, said Ozurovich.

The funding for the portables and for the repairs to the business

building was funded by the district budget.

Six of the portables are permanent and will be used to relocate

students and staff for upcoming projects. Those include work on the

library and on the Advanced Technology and Science Building.

Upon completion of the renovations, Bainbridge Environmental

Consultants Inc., which investigated the mold problem, will inspect

the building before it is reopened.

That is the reassurance that 12-year faculty member McCotter is

looking for. He taught in the building and gathered some things

there before it was shut down.

" You could feel it as soon as you entered the building, how dirty

the air was, " he said.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7363 or aglowish@...