
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990                   TAG: 9003102455
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

TECH ASBESTOS CLEANUP FINISHED

Virginia Tech officials said Friday that the asbestos cleanup of Squires Student Center, which cost more than $2.3 million, is complete and that work on the building can resume after a yearlong hiatus.

The two-part project - refurbishing Squires and building the G. Burke Johnston student auxiliary center - will cost $21.3 million.

That's about $3 million more than the project was estimated to cost when work on Squires was stopped Feb. 22, 1989, after workers discovered that a gluelike substance used with floor tile contained asbestos.

Officials said student fees probably will be increased $2 this fall - from $378 to $380 a year. The board of visitors will consider that proposed increase, along with any others, in April.

Students who will never benefit from a new and improved Squires center will be forced to pay the increase, officials conceded.

In 1984, the General Assembly authorized Tech to spend $12.5 million on the project. Three years later, after receiving only two bids, officials revised the price to $18 million, based on what the contractors said it would cost to finish the project.

The new Johnston center, being built near Burruss Hall on the other side of campus from Squires, is scheduled to open this fall. It will house three classrooms, a snack bar, a satellite bookstore and student study areas. Squires, with several theaters, a food court, ballroom and bowling alley, should be done by fall 1991, officials said.

David Ford, associate vice president for facilities, asked the state in a letter to Virginia's asbestos coordinator to review the lab tests and the project on campus to confirm that the asbestos had been removed. Construction could then resume within 10 days, he said.

To help with the asbestos removal, Tech hired an industrial hygiene consultant, Pacific Environmental Services of Reston, to develop a cleanup plan and guide the asbestos remover, HICO Inc. of Christiansburg.

Last summer, state officials cited Tech for failing to give information about asbestos hazards to Branch and Associates, a Roanoke-based building contractor. Branch requested a background report on asbestos in Squires before starting construction but did not get it until the job was shut down.

The university also was cited for failing to warn three employees who spent time in a Squires theater arts scene shop about the asbestos.

Inhaling asbestos fibers can cause cancer.

by CNB