Tech’s ACME Building Dealing With Inflation

Tennessee Tech’s new ACME engineering building is on schedule despite recent estimates showing costs going up.

College of Engineering Dean Joseph Slater said they have come to expect building costs to go up during a project and now see inflation as part of the process. Slater said the newly-completed Ashraf Islam Engineering Building has provided them with a lot of experience with construction in the current economy.

“When you first generate a concept you don’t see the efficiencies until you get into the nitty-gritty,” Slater said. “So there will be a combination of raising money, getting money from other sources, and cost-cutting to make this project move along.”

Slater said they are constantly watching out for any other potential issues that may arise in the project and finding ways to work around them. Slater said he is concerned that costs may be pushed even higher due to the extreme damage seen recently in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

“That’s something that we haven’t even begun to talk about as most of us haven’t really come to the realization of what that all means,” Slater said.

Tech will ask the state for some $17 million for inflationary pressures surrounding the Advanced Construction And Manufacturing Engineering facility. Slater said the state has a standard method to price out new buildings but the system has some shortcomings.

“That is a problem I think that the state would be, it would be good for them to address because I do believe it’s in the earlier stages where we’re not allowed to put in estimated risers in that bid process so it’s over, but it’s not over surprisingly,” Slater said. “It’s over. They’re always over and you have to work through that.”

Slater said they are currently looking to get state approval to move forward from the design phase for the ACME building.