UNC-CH Information Technology Services

Renovations continue in summer months

Campus is quieter during the summer, but this season students and employees will hear the ring of construction as ITS renovates two of its sites on campus. ITS is refurbishing Phillips Hall and the Porthole Building to improve facilities for staff and machinery.

With the relocation of most ITS systems to the ITS Manning machine room, ITS is downsizing its space in the basement of Phillips Hall to about 1,200 square feet. The old Phillips Hall machine room space, which used to house the ITS Control Center and several campus computing systems, will now be shared between ITS and Academic Advising.

“The biggest task was moving out all the machinery,” said Mike Harris of ITS Building Services. “Once that was done, we did everything from rewiring electrical systems to upgrading the fire suppression system to a newer model designed for our smaller space.”

Projects in Phillips Hall, such as constructing a wall to divide the space for the groups, changing the air circulation to reflect the new layout, masonry renovation and asbestos abatement began in April and will be completed in June.

“Facilities has done a great job with this project,” said Harris. “They’ve really worked hard to stay on schedule, and have gotten a lot done in a short amount of time.”

The Porthole Building (near Carolina Coffee Shop) is also being renovated to house ITS staff and an ERP training facility. Plans include replacing columns with overhead steel beams to better utilize the space, replacing some flooring and adding new light fixtures. Many materials left over from the ITS Manning construction project are being used to lessen the cost of this renovation, which should be completed in July.