House Renewal Over Budget and Delayed

CONSTRUCTION. Harvard House Renewal delayed after pandemic.

BY JACKSON C. SENNOTT CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

As the renovation of Adams House, one of Harvard’s undergraduate residential houses, enters its third phase this June, the University anticipates an unprecedented 12 to 14 percent rise in costs — nearly 10 percentage points higher than the traditional 4 percent benchmark.

The spike in costs reflects a perfect storm for construction budgets: historic inflation in Boston-area construction, rising interest rates nationally, and a pandemic-induced five-month pause on construction in 2020.

Adams is the latest focus of Harvard’s House Renewal proj- ect, a renovation of all 12 undergraduate residential houses that represents “one of the largest and most ambitious capital improvement campaigns in Harvard College history,” according to the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication.

Originally planned in 2008 under the cloud of the financial crisis, the more than $1 billion proposal projected 15-month timelines for each house, with plans to break ground in fall 2011 and conclude construction 12 years later.

Yet 12 years later in 2023, the project is only halfway through and has likely already incurred more than $800 million in costs, according to now-deleted figures posted on LinkedIn by House Renewal Senior Project Manager Michael J. Leyne.

Leyne’s profile previously described the renewal project as a “$1.6B program,” estimating the cost of the ongoing renovations to Adams as $300 million, and gave figures totaling more than $600 million for the full renovations of Lowell, Winthrop, and Dunster houses, combined.

Leyne did not respond to a request for comment on the figures. A University spokesperson denied the accuracy of the figures but declined to provide alternative figures.

Explaining shifts to the budget projections, Executive Director of the Undergraduate House Renewal Program Stephen Needham said in an interview that the College has approached House Renewal on a “project-by-project” basis.

“Each project is looked at totally individually,” Needham said, adding that each renovation proposal “has to undergo a pretty stringent affordability and financing analysis” before being approved by the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

To accommodate rising prices, Needham said, each individual budget proposal contains an estimate of “escalation,” or projected inflation per year. Based on historical rates since 1940, Harvard has on average used a 4 percent inflation benchmark — a target that the first five houses met or fell below, Needham said.

“Until Adams, we hadn’t exceeded any of them. Some of them we gave money back,” he said. For Lowell, the project immediately preceding Adams, the team “hit it right on,” Needham added.

Midway through construction on Adams’ Apthorp and Claverly halls, however, the Covid-19 pandemic threw the Adams House Renewal into disarray.

“The fact that Claverly was all bought, we were impacted mostly by the delay and the slower progress,” Needham said. That impact on Claverly — a five-month halt to construction and social distancing limits on the number of workers on site — pushed the project 3 percent over budget.

For the next phase of construction — Adams’ Randolph Hall — the budget authorization was approved in the midst of the pandemic. The project’s escalation target increased from 6 percent to 10 percent, but so far, has missed its forecast by at least 4 percent due to increasing costs of materials, accessibility, and asbestos removal.

After these two over-budget projects, the 12 to 14 percent escalation target for Westmorly Hall reflects an expectation that the economy will see a “leveling out of inflation,” Needham said. Needham said he remains hopeful that the full renewal project will stay within the original projection of $1 billion to $1.6 billion, but “on the higher end.”

Needham noted that similar projects at other universities have struggled with their original timetables, referencing delays to Yale’s residential college renovations project, which began in 1998 and concluded in 2011.

As the interview came to a close, Needham quoted from a speech by the late historian David McCullough at a dedication of the John Adams Courthouse in Boston. “You can judge people by how they spend their money,” Needham recalled McCullough saying. “And this is money well spent by good people.” Needham paused, chuckling. “And I believe that sometimes.” jackson.sennott@thecrimson.com

Provost Promises ‘Generous’ Wages Amid HUCTW Negotiations

its staff — our members — are struggling.” good faith as we do with all of our existing unions.”

As the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers remains locked in yearlong contract negotiations with the University, Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76 said the University is committed to providing its workers “appropriately generous” compensation.

HUCTW has been bargaining for a new contract with the University since April 2022, marking its longest period of negotiations in a decade. The union’s previous contract with Harvard expired on Sept. 30, 2022, but both sides agreed to extend the current agreement until a new one could be negotiated.

During a Thursday interview, Garber acknowledged that negotiations had “been going on for a long time” but reiterated his belief that “both sides are bargaining in good faith.”

“Members of the HUCTW are indeed some of the most important members of our community,” he added.

Wages remain one of the most pressing issues for HUCTW members, who have demanded wage increases to keep pace with rising inflation.

HUCTW President Carrie

E. Barbash said in an interview Monday that though the union and Harvard are in the process of negotiating, members feel that the University needs to place greater emphasis on “how much

“Our members haven’t, I think, had a raise in a year and a half and have really been struggling with the cost of living,” Barbash said. “We feel like the University needs to give more weight to that and is not addressing that concern in their offers.”

Garber said on Thursday that the University is dedicated to ensuring that HUCTW members “have compensation that is appropriately generous and that they will have the ability to have fulfilling work lives at Harvard.”

Harvard has seen a spike in labor activity across campus in recent months, including the formation of two new unionization campaigns: the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union and Harvard Academic Workers-United Automobile Workers. HUWU has since affiliated with Harvard’s graduate students union and launched a card campaign, which organizers say has achieved the threshold necessary to proceed to a formal union election through the National Labor Relations Board. HAW-UAW also launched a public card campaign and held its first rallies in February.

Still, Garber declined to comment on whether the University will voluntarily recognize HUWU and HAW-UAW, calling an announcement “premature.”

“If a union is voted in and therefore we will face collective bargaining negotiations with the union, we will act in good faith,” he added. “We will bargain in

The University, however, informed HUWU on Friday — one day after Garber’s interview — that it would not voluntarily recognize it. In an email obtained by The Crimson, Harvard Director of Labor and Employee Relations

Paul R. Curran wrote that the University would only recognize HUWU through a “full and fair election” overseen by the NLRB.

“While we understand your union seeks recognition without a vote, the University is steadfast in its position that every eligible student be given the opportunity to make their voices heard on this important matter,” Curran wrote.

Mental Health Initiatives

During the Thursday interview, Garber said the University has been “working hard” to implement the eight recommendations laid out in the 2020 Mental Health Taskforce Report, which has included rolling out expanded telehealth services during the current academic year.

Harvard Counseling and Mental Health Service announced last fall that it established a partnership with TimelyCare, a virtual mental health service that provides students with 12 free counseling sessions each academic year. “A very large number of students have used TimelyCare and the satisfaction ratings have been very, very high,” he said.

Garber said the University is dedicated to improving mental health care for all students.

“The problems of students in crisis are ideally addressed before they’re in crisis, in addition to providing them with care when they are in crisis,” Garber said.

Still, Garber said that “nobody has the perfect solution to these problems” and stressed that improving mental health across campus is a “community effort.”

“I am not saying that we should be satisfied with where we are. We continue to look for ways to improve,” he said. “The important message is it remains critical for students, faculty, and staff who face students, family members, friends to really keep an eye out for each other.”