Steadily working through the summer, UCSB’s Campus Design and Facilities Dept. has overseen the near completion of all its ongoing construction projects, but will postpone all new major projects pending the arrival of state funding.

According to Marc Fisher, he is listed as Senior Associate Vice Chancellor, the Recreation Center pools have been rebuilt, improvements to El Colegio Road are completed, an addition to Engineering II is finished, a putting green has been installed at the San Clemente housing complex, and the Educational and Social Sciences Building will be fully constructed by mid-August.

While large-scale projects such as the 200,000 square foot ESSB complex, which began construction in March 2007, will be completed by fall, Fisher said, several other planned construction projects – including the expansion of Davidson Library – have been postponed until UCSB receives state funding from the state’s sale of bonds.

“Everything this summer that we have planned to finish we have done,” Fisher said. “The campus didn’t stop any ongoing construction projects. It’s just those future projects that we are waiting on state funding for.”

These future projects, such as the renovations of Phelps Hall, Davidson Library and Ellison Hall that were slated to begin in the 2009-2010 year, have not been cancelled, Fisher said. However, he also said the plans will now have to await funding before they can begin. In the meantime, development designs for several of the projects are ready to be put in action once they receive sufficient funding.

After nearly a year and a half of construction, the ESSB complex will open on August 14 at a total cost of just over $100 million, Fisher said. The three-structured complex will consolidate the entire Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, which currently resides in Phelps Hall, into one building. The state-of-the-art Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television and New Media, including the 300-seat Pollock Theatre, will reserve another building, and classroom and office space will occupy the third, Fisher said. Several departments, such as sociology, global studies and communication, will utilize the office space.

According to Fisher, construction on the ESSB complex began in March 2007, but could have never proceeded without generous donations from celebrities such as UCSB alum and Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas, “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf, and “The Cosby Show” producer Marcy Carsey. These donations, Fisher said, went a long way towards financing the Carsey-Wolf center.

While the majority of the complex is complete and only requires landscape and installation, Fisher said, Pollock Theater might need a little more work to be finished.

“Pollock Theater is the only part of the ESSB that will not be up and running for the start of Quarter,” Fisher said.

The Rec Cen pool renovation, which consisted of repairs to the pool decks, resurfacing of the actual pools and replacement of the underwater lighting, was completed earlier this summer.

“Essentially, [all of the pools] have been rebuilt, except for the hot tub, which was quite new,” Fisher said.

As stifling budget cuts impact all of the UC campuses, UCSB has managed to finish all of its ongoing construction projects, thanks to the careful planning of UCSB’s administration, Fisher said.

“Some of the projects that may have stopped on other campuses have continued here,” Fisher said. “This campus kept moving forward because our Chancellor has done a great job to ensure that.”