A project to renovate Chadbourne and Barnard residence halls at University of Wisconsin was approved Thursday at the UW System Board of Regents’ monthly meeting.

The Physical Planning and Funding Committee approved a phase two renovation of the residence halls that will update several parts of the aging buildings at a total cost of $12,373,000. The plan approved will create more bathrooms on each of the 13 floors in Chadbourne Residence Hall.

“(We will be) converting multiple large single bathrooms into three separate bathrooms,” said Director of University Housing Paul Evans.

The separation of the one large bathroom into three separate ones will allow for the university to make the floors coed and will bring the residence hall up to code on the number of showers in each bathroom per person.

Regent David Walsh pointed out the cost of the renovation will be considerably lower than the amount previously enumerated in the budget proposed to the board.

Evans said the proposed project was re-evaluated, and it was decided that some of the renovations were not immediately necessary. The original report had plans to replace the elevator and renovate the bathrooms in Barnard Hall.

“We also were going to air-condition all of Barnard Hall, and we backed off of that,” Evans said. “It saved us a substantial amount of money. … I think we actually ended up with a better project even at a lower cost.”

Renovations to Chadbourne also include the removal of two elevators to be replaced with an elevator shaft that houses three new ones, the addition of a lounge den, kitchenette, and trash and recycling spaces on every floor, and a modernized first floor with new windows.

Barnard will get a new steam radiator, air conditioning in select common areas, updates in some fixtures and flooring, and asbestos removal.

Evans said the project will be completed over two summers and during an academic year. The work that will cause the most disruption to students will be done during the summers.

“During the academic year, we plan on building the new elevator tower that will be built … on the outside of the building so we (can) try to minimize the disruption of students as much as we can,” Evans said.