The sites slated to be up and running by this fall include the Tuck Mall residence halls and the McLaughlin residence cluster.
"All along the goal has been to have the facilities ready for the start of this academic year," Redman said. "Ideally we will put [freshmen] in on the 12th of September and all other students in on the 20th."
Before students are able to move in, the College must obtain occupancy permits from the town of Hanover, which are contingent on successful town fire and safety inspections. The town will review the new residential buildings at the beginning of September, with the last building, one of the McLaughlin residence halls, scheduled to receive a permit on Sept. 6.
Despite the fact that many students will need to move into the new dorms prior to Sept. 12, the timeline should not present large problems, Redman said. These students include Dartmouth Outing Club trip leaders, undergraduate advisors and several freshmen.
"Our first concern is that we don't want to put students in a building that isn't safe," Redman said.
Redman also said that he is optimistic that the inspections will go smoothly, judging by the fact that the projects have been closely monitored throughout construction.
"We don't expect any real surprises," said Redman.
Redman also said that students will be fully able to place their belongings in the new dorms before the College obtains occupancy permits.
"We could have people moving in on the fourth without an occupancy permit. It's about people's ability to stay, not their stuff's ability to stay," Redman said.
Additionally, Redman said that the Office of Residential Life has assigned all freshmen on section E of DOC trips, the first group of students that will need to move their belongings into dorms on Sept. 3, to older clusters such as the Choates and River. As for UGAs and other upperclassmen that may need to stay in dorms before Sept. 6, they may have to sleep in another dorm, but they should be able to move in their belongings on time, Redman added.
Redman said that although the new dorms will be ready to accommodate students, construction workers will be present during the beginning of Fall term to finish the details. Construction after the commencement of Fall term will most likely encompass repairs, "tweaking" of common spaces and exterior work, Redman said.
The construction on the Tuck Mall and McLaughlin clusters has been relatively smooth, save for several setbacks. One of these obstacles was the injury of a worker due to a falling pipeline early on in the project. Another occurred last Wednesday when one or several individuals broke in to Tuck Mall residential halls and caused significant damage, breaking six windows and dismantling several fire extinguishers.
"This wasn't anticipated and now new windows must be ordered," Redman said. "The goal is to try to get the windows in before the term starts, but these are special windows designed specifically for our project that may have to be custom-made."
Freshmen will make up 70 percent of the students living in the new dormitories this fall, and the remaining 30 percent will be mostly seniors. The remainder of the freshman class will live in Russell Sage and Butterfield halls, the East Wheelock cluster and the all-freshman River and Choates clusters. All other residential clusters will no longer house freshmen. Redman said that he thinks the new clusters will encourage class identity for freshmen, while also providing attractive and luxurious options for older students.
