F E A T U R E
l lot has happened sinee the Factors of initial concern were: of documents, books and the personal
I gy 15, 2001, tire at the Uni- • Relocation of the president’s of- property of employees who worked in
versity gf Kentuelry Administration fice and other staff working in the Ad- the building needed to be addressed
Building Careful assessment of the ministration Building. By the next quickly. Between May 17 and 18, two
building in the vveelrs after the tire morning, about 70 employees had been days after the fire, boxes of surviving,
revealed enough structure and in- set up in other buildings and were ready but water-logged, materials were
tegrity remained so that the ehear-to for work. loaded on a truck and driven to a
of the old eentral Campus eould bg • Safety issues, such as the Dessicant—drying facility in Chicago.
rebuilt_ Given this information, the building’s structural integrity, fire flare- Books were freeze—dried. Altogether
UK Board ot Trustees voted on ups that continued for nearly a week, 1,403 boxes of paper records and 30
june 20, 2001, to reconstruct the and environmental health effects. Mold cartons of books were recovered and
building was an issue of prime concern because retumed to the University.
During the immediate hours af. of the harm it can do to people and pa- • Protecting the building from fur-
ter the fire, the pressing need was per. There was a 48 hour window before ther structural damage. It took some i
i to assemble a crisis response team_ mold growth would begin. The recovery time to stabilize (ihe structure with steel
T Later a reconstruc— an lo Put on 3 temPo‘
tion meet team \ { raiy roof, but now the
WOuEi Came tO_ V ·_ \   _ building is buttoned up
gether consisting of l - 3*,   s ¤ waiting for the next move.
representatives of I it     Q K With the crisisiwork
the University ad_ · _   x dr   complete, it was time to
C mlmstmuon, facility   §  _ \ delve into the history of
Q l and students, his- ... ` § Ari - si > ,• the building S¤ that in-
E torie preservation E, ‘ - ~   \ #1  €•’i%> gl formed decisions could be
Q Specialists, design H   . \ Aliié . 5 made about rebuilding it.
E architects, consult- ` [H \ ` ~ " ` $4 ' From the outset there was
§ anis and engineers, § I  / I r §   _.Ts   a commitment to save the
contractors, iaiid_ H  {_/ §   .,  52,%: is  i? building and restore it. It
sca d · d A  _ ¢G'·I I · ·\\—'l Z' was President Lee T. Todd
pe esigners an ,.__·  S ,_;,~=,,§; » 4 ` , , , _ _
construction / L § ° e E 7 •     V JL S glioqcihatighi rgn?
· t _ $·.¤»· if, ag;} ` · ‘ _ vate u1 ing e u o
Z pmjcc managers   é i Y,‘ i ig-; ,_..,_;T·T¥£_ _.,____~ . life and an active building
l A temporary roof and steel reinforoeme ts are put in place to protect the Adminis-
tration Building until renovation can begin. The ornate column, one of a pain sur-
1 vived the fire and will be a part of the building’s redesign.
KENTUCKY ALUMNUS 17
i.