West Virginia Legislators Tour University to View Maintenance Needs

From cleaning the inside of university buildings to maintaining the outside, facility managers at campuses across the nation have their hands full with upkeep. In addition to time, another obstacle is money. West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown, West Virginia, is among the U.S. campuses with a backlog of maintenance projects due to a lack of government funds, West Virginia Metro News reports.

West Virginia legislators this week toured the university’s Engineering Sciences Building (ESB) to see examples of the US$664 million worth of deferred maintenance WVU needs across its campuses.

The ESB alone needs $38 million in maintenance, to repair the deteriorating bricks on the outside and the fire suppression system pump inside. Water is seeping in the basement from outside as evidenced by damage to the air handling unit and the absorption chiller area. At the ESB entrance, concrete on the rusty pedestrian bridge is crumbling.

The $664 million represents a decade’s worth of work across all WVU campuses covering 15,880 acres and more than 518 buildings. About $92 million worth of deferred maintenance could begin immediately.

WVU facility experts hope that the tour inspires the state legislature to look within its budget to consider ways to fund the university’s maintenance needs.