Keeping campus construction humming

The last few years have marked the biggest campus building boom since the 1960s, with construction cranes giving the skyline a different and dynamic profile.

The construction of new buildings, renovation of older buildings and the reconstruction of much of the university’s utilities infrastructure has made hard hats a familiar sight across campus.

But all of the construction doesn’t happen without careful planning, mountains of details and experts like Julie Grove on hand to make the projects run like clockwork.

“I think it’s just that the campus has been in this extraordinary building boom every day since I arrived here,” says Grove, an architect and engineer supervisor who began her work at the university 13 years ago.  “There has never been a dull moment. It has been an incredible journey to see the transformation of the campus over that time.”

She is one of five project managers in Capital Planning and Development at Facilities Planning and Management.

Among the major projects she has managed are the Genetics-Biotechnology Center, Health Sciences Learning Center, the University Square development, Union South, the Grainger Hall addition, the Washburn Observatory renovation, and the Chazen Museum of Art addition.

“When you work on a campus you’re able to touch so many different building types, which makes it extraordinarily fun and always challenging,” says Grove. “There is no way to get bored.”

As the building continues on campus, two of Grove’s current projects are the Memorial Union Renovation and Signe Skott Cooper Hall, the university’s new School of Nursing.

“It is a very exciting project and a very special building,” Grove says of Cooper Hall. “It represents the first time in 40 years where the identity of the school can be celebrated. When we open the building they will gain great visibility so everyone knows who they are and how great they are. We’re thrilled about that.”

“It’s a beautiful piece of architecture on a very prominent corner and a highly sustainable building. We are really embracing the notion of it being a health and wellness center with many special features inside and out.“

Katharyn May, dean of the School of Nursing, is one of Julie’s many fans. She describes Grove as “an amazing combination of technical expertise and artistry, gritty determination and grace.”

“Working with her on Signe Skott Cooper Hall has been such a pleasure, because she understands how much our faculty, staff and students care that the building reflects us — our unique perspectives and our commitment to the values of nursing,” says May.

“She can explain these huge construction projects to those of us who have never worked on one before and probably won’t ever again. Julie leads you through the process with patience and humor, and she makes managing the complexities look easy,” May adds.

Grove is also project manager for the Memorial Union project. The $52 million renovation of the theater wing is underway and expected to be completed by summer of 2014, and the $42 million second phase of Memorial Union renovation will begin after the first phase is complete.

“I have four other project manager colleagues plus our university architect and between us we work on everything you see out there,” she says. “We work independently, but learn a lot from each other. We all do our part.”

She clearly loves her job and the variety it offers. With every project comes a different group of personalities and technical requirements.

“University Square was a large project which had its own set of challenges and was highly political with multiple owners. The more complicated it got, the more excited I got in resolving the issues,” she says.

Grove has a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture and a master’s in architecture, and she has worked in the architecture and design business for 30 years.

Before coming to Wisconsin, she was a practicing interior designer and architect with several private nationally recognized firms.

Off campus, Grove makes use of her professional skills to help nonprofit groups.

She serves on the Development Committee of Habitat for Humanity of Dane County. There, she has raised funds and in-kind contributions for the chapter, which builds 18 to 23 homes each year. In 2013, the group’s 200^th home will be built.

She is also a member of the building and grounds committee at her church.