AUGUSTA, Ga. — Skanska USA and Georgia Regents University recently celebrated a construction milestone at a “topping out” ceremony for the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons building.
The “topping out” ceremony marks the safe and successful end of vertical construction of the building. Skanska erected the last steel beam into place during the event. In attendance were GRU President Ricardo Azziz and Susan Barcus, GRU senior vice president of advancement.
The three-story, 172,000-square-foot building will house two 300-seat auditoriums, a 26,620-square-foot simulation laboratory, 13 learning
communities, classrooms and Medical College of Georgia administrative offices.
“This has been an exciting and challenging project, with the site receiving nearly a full year’s worth of rainfall during the first five months of construction,” said Matt Jones, senior project manager for Skanska. “Despite this obstacle, the team has been able to achieve this major milestone right on schedule.”
The new building, scheduled for completion in fall 2014, is central to the university’s efforts to address the statewide shortage of physicians and dentists. It will allow the Medical College of Georgia to increase its class size from 230 to 300 by 2020, and the College of Dental Medicine to increase its class size from 63 to 100 by 2016.
“We are extremely pleased with the progress of the project and are looking forward to its successful completion next fall,” said Daniel Merrell, senior facilities project manager at GRU.
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