There has been a lot of noisy construction going on around campus for the past few weeks at Bucks, but many of the students have no idea what exactly is being built, until now.
The official Bucks Facebook page posted a story last week explaining the final design of the large project and what the new space will bring.
According to this news release, Newtown Commons will be an 8,800 square foot expansion of the Gymnasium/Pemberton building, and will create a large student commons area, as well as add much needed offices for faculty, the IT staff and helpdesk.
Heating and cooling for the expanded building, as well as other Newtown campus facilities, will be provided by 40 geothermal wells, each measuring 400 feet deep. This is likely to save the college money on energy costs.
Construction crews have been out working almost every day starting at around 7 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Students arriving early on campus have taken notice of the loud construction at such early hours.
Billy Kerins, 21, a journalism major from Southampton, had no clue what the construction was for.
“I of course heard and saw them out there every day, but didn’t know what it was for. Once I saw what it was going to eventually be, I was surprised. It looks really nice,” Kerins said.
Chris Apple, a 20-year-old communications major from Doylestown, can hear it when he arrives every morning for class.
“I just noticed the one day that the area around the HUB was fenced off, and after that I just noticed every morning there was more and more going on out there.”
Comments of surprise and excitement filled the Bucks Facebook page under the photo of the project plan. Words such as “awesome” and “wonderful” were used by students online to show their reaction to the changes to the school.
There also seemed to be a bit of disappointment that the project won’t be completed until 2012, so some students may not be around to see it.
Ed Corridon, 21, is an education major who will not be attending Bucks at the time of  the completion of the project.
“At the end of this year I plan on transferring to Temple, so I won’t be able to actually experience the new additions to the college.”
Because of the ongoing work on campus, other services are being affected. According to the Bucks Facebook page, as of Oct. 17, 2011 the HUB offices of Financial Aid and Student Accounts as well as the Front Counter Services of the Office of Admissions, Records, and Registration, are now located in the Solarium, on the 2nd floor of the Rollins Center.
Access to the gym from the deck will be temporarily closed during the construction process.