A Temporary Halt to Neilson Construction

Smith College on Friday announced a temporary discontinuation to all construction sitework for the Neilson Library project, including Neilson Library and Alumnae Gym. 

As of Friday, April 3, the only workers on site are those engaged in the orderly, temporary shut down of the project. 

The college made this decision in consultation with the construction site manager, who has partnered with Smith since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak to adapt construction to meet the needs of employees’ wellbeing. 

“Sitework has been entirely voluntary up to this point and fully permitted under the state’s essential activity guidance,” noted David DeSwert, vice president for finance and administration, and Jim Gray, associate vice president for facilities and operations, in making the announcement. “But we feel that, given Governor Charlie Baker’s recent update on the likely surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the coming weeks, it is crucial that we go above and beyond state recommendations and discontinue all construction activity.”

The college has set a preliminary construction restart date of May 4, 2020, but will assess conditions at that time. Project managers are developing a revised timeline for completion of the project.

Full text of the April 3 letter is online.

Smith’s COVID-19 website provides comprehensive, up-to-date information.

Smith also is regularly updating its FAQ.