In its final meeting of the year, a subcommittee of Union Council addressed its progress thus far regarding the Memorial Union Reinvestment project as well as its future prospects.

The Design Committee, which advises Union Council with design recommendations, heard presentations on the budget and the progress of Phase I of the MUR project which will renovate the West Wing of the Union as well as the fifth floor. The project has a total budget of $52 million.

As of now, the design has reached 65 percent completion and will reach 100 percent completion in May, Union President Katie Fischer said.

During the meeting, representatives from The Boldt Company, which is in charge of the construction for Memorial Union’s overhaul, addressed the current cost model of the project. Senior Project Manager for Boldt Jeff Niessen said he is confident that within the next couple of weeks the company will be on target for pulling together the project details.

“It is a very dynamic process keeping up with what all the designers are doing right now. There’s a lot of people working on pulling the details for this project together,” he said. “It is a moving target. We are continuing to work on it and continually update it on a daily basis.”

Niessen said right now, the total cost for construction will amount to $40,348,197. He also addressed the risks of the project, which include the fact that subcontractors have not yet been hired and it is impossible to totally foresee the market in the future.

He added that other unforeseen conditions when walls and ceilings are torn down present risk, but that the company is doing a lot of exploratory work to remove any surprises. Despite this, he said the company does have to allow for some contingency dollars in the budget for unpredicted conditions.

Ex-officio member of the Design Committee Wendy von Below said the current value of the project changes hourly and should not be confused with the concrete budget. She reminded the body that it started at 15 percent design with preconstruction services in March of last year and that it has now reached 65 percent completion.

“The project has a budget of $52 million, and that $52 million is a number that was enumerated by the state of Wisconsin and cannot change,” she said. “So our budget is fixed … What is in flux – and it varies depending on the level of design and what we discover during the construction period – is the actual value of the project.”

Von Below also presented on some of the design changes that have been made to the project, including elimination of some roof decks, the sail tower, changes to the concept of the building’s Park Street side and an outdoor brat stand.

Boldt Project Manager Mel Taylor said the construction is scheduled to begin July 2, with trailers going up in the middle of June. She said the Terrace will remain as is until after Labor Day, with construction planned through the June 2014 date of scheduled completion.

Fischer said in an interview with The Badger Herald that Union Council will decide if it wants the Design Committee to continue but that she thinks as the project progresses that Union Council will become the main overseer since a design committee is not really necessary when the design is at 100 percent completion.

“It’s been an amazing year, and seeing how this project has come into being has been just an amazing thing. Seeing all the different input from students, from community members, from faculty from staff, it’s been great,” she said.