The building was originally built in 1963 when Old Martin Hall was demolished due to old age and deterioration. Martin Hall (old and new) serve as the primary administrative building where the Registrar’s Office, Admissions, Enrollment Management, Scholarship Office and Graduate School are located. With the exception of renovations of individual suites in the building, Martin Hall “hasn’t been touched” since it was first built, according to Bill Crist, director of facility management at UL. In addition to the work yet to be completed this summer, UL has spent the past few months removing asbestos that still remained in the building, and made repairs to the roof earlier this year.

Much of the work on Martin Hall has to be completed over the weekends and must be staged around the occupancy of the building, according to Crist, as the building is otherwise fully functional throughout the course of the entire year — summer being no exception. “What we’ve had to do is complete the work one hallway at a time over the weekends,” said Crist. “We start work on a Friday afternoon and have it done by Sunday night so nobody is endangered or inconvenienced.”

While the university waited close to 60 years to make updates to Martin Hall, renovation is not a new concept on campus. Fifteen new buildings have been constructed on campus over the past four years, according to Crist, including the new LEED Silver–certified Student Union, which was completed in spring of 2015. The long delay on updates to Martin Hall are simply “a matter of budget and priorities,” according to Crist, with administrative buildings simply not being as high of a priority as student or academic-related spaces. “We generally prioritize our student areas first, but at the end of the day, these things still need taking care of.”

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The ASCE used data from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Department of Education and National Center on Education Statistics, and found that 24 percent of public school buildings were rated as being in fair or poor condition.

“In many cases, planning is lacking, as four in 10 public schools currently do not have a long-term educational facilities plan in place to address operations and maintenance,” according to ASCE’s report. “The main reason for repair, renovation or modernization work on school facilities relates to improving energy efficiency as well as technology infrastructure.”

Underinvestment in school facilities due to fiscal woes has resulted in a $38 billion estimated annual budget gap for repairs and modernizations. Altogether, more than half of public schools need such investments to be considered in “good” condition, according to the report. States are not graded individually within the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card.

“Public schools serve as critical learning environments for the next generation, yet the facilities received a poor ‘D+’ grade in the Report Card. This is concerning because recent studies indicate that public schools’ conditions may affect student performance,” said Greg DiLoreto, past president of ASCE and chair of the Committee on America’s Infrastructure. “In contrast, quality facilities can help improve student achievement, reduce truancy and raise staff morale and retention. If we want the next generation to receive a quality education, school facilities that provide healthy, safe and modern learning environments are a part of it.”

Founded in 1852, ASCE is the nation’s oldest engineering society, representing more than 150,000 members of the civil engineering profession. The ASCE Committee on America’s Infrastructure, which authored the Infrastructure Report Card, is comprised of 28 civil engineers from around the country, representing decades of collective experience.

More than 10 years ago, when School Construction News last reported on the Infrastructure Report Card, ASCE similarly graded the infrastructure of public schools a mere D.

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