By Stori Rounds
The College has started work to upgrade electrical systems in Boland Hall after damage occurred last year.
Director of Facilities Management Bruce Boyer said that a power failure on May 4, 2023, resulted in half the campus losing power.
After notifying National Grid, a discovery was made that a cable running from Holy Cross Drive to Boland Hall had been damaged. Temporary fixes were made to repair the cable.
“National Grid was able to make a temporary repair to the cable, but unfortunately could not replace it because the building was built in 1967 [and] the existing underground cables, internal electrical equipment and conduits do not meet current electrical codes,” Boyer said.
Construction crews at Stonehill are now working to upgrade the current electrical service, meaning they must dig underground to reach the cables in order to make sure the new system meets electrical codes.
As students enter finals week, residents of Boland Hall have different opinions about the construction.
“It gets a little noisy in the morning and wakes me, but it’s not that bad. The parking was a little inconvenient for the first week,” one student said.
“It has not bothered me that much because they do not work on it at night, and I have not had an issue driving by it or with parking,” another student said.
Boyer said that the current phase of construction will last two to three weeks. However, the entire project will not be complete until next summer. In order to finish the project, power must be turned off in Boland Hall for a few months in order to change the internal equipment.
“I would say that the biggest challenge on this project would be the extended lead times for some of the equipment. That is why we are starting so early,” Boyer said.
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