The opening date for the new Health Sciences building has been pushed back to March 29, 2022, according to Capital Planning and Projects Director Delano Palmer. 

There have been a number of supply chain complications that resulted in delays on Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FFE) deliveries.

“While the building is aesthetically at a pretty-close-to-complete state, there are a couple components associated with some of the technology that weren’t going to be one hundred percent complete by [January],” Palmer said. 

The original delivery date for these supplies was set for December, but with winter fast approaching and complications arising due to COVID-19, Palmer said the CWU staff managing the project did not feel confident that the building would be ready by winter quarter.

Palmer said some of the supplies are coming across the border from Canada, so the new date accommodates any possible complications during that process. 

“We want to ensure that there is enough time for the delivery, the install and more specifically, the testing of those components with our faculty and staff,” Palmer said. 

Palmer said that while pushing back the opening date was disappointing, the decision to wait until everything functions perfectly was a much better alternative in his eyes. 

“The students, faculty and staff deserve to have a problem-free operation of this brand new building,” Palmer said. “Throughout the project, we have been very successful ensuring that we have stable means and measures within the building. Once it comes to actual operation and occupation of the building we want to make sure that that’s successful too.” 

According to Palmer, there were a lot of unanswered questions left to resolve and the CWU Facilities and Planning teams aimed to eliminate all questions before proceeding. 

The Health Sciences building is now set to open its doors and serve the CWU community by the beginning of spring quarter.