Planning Design and Construction Latest News

UCR celebrates construction start for North District 2

UC Riverside and its community partners celebrated a unique collaboration Wednesday, Nov. 4 as construction begins on a new housing complex that will be home to future university and community college students. The North District Phase 2 project represents a first for both UCR and the Riverside Community College District, or RCCD, creating a...

By Imran Ghori |

School of Medicine holds ribbon-cutting for new building

UC Riverside leaders reflected on the 10-year anniversary of the School of Medicine and looked to the future as they celebrated the opening of a new educational building. More than 300 guests attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the School of Medicine Education Building II on Tuesday, Sept. 26, including local legislative leaders and two members...

By Imran Ghori |

Native American garden opens to campus

UC Riverside’s new Native American Landscape Garden is now open at the center of campus. Campus leaders and others involved in its planning celebrated the project’s completion with a walk-through of the 20,000-square-foot garden on Friday, Sept. 22, which also happened to be California Native American Day. The committee members, which included...

By Imran Ghori |

Campus celebrates opening of new student health center

UC Riverside celebrated the completion of its new Student Health and Counseling Center on Friday, Sept. 22 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 39,450-square-foot, two-story building at the north side of campus brings together medical, mental health, and well-being services into one location and modern facility for the first time. “It just seems...

By Imran Ghori |

School of Medicine ready to unveil new education building

UC Riverside’s School of Medicine is celebrating a major milestone with the completion of a new instructional and administrative building that will allow it to increase enrollment. Following two years of construction, the School of Medicine Education Building II is opening this fall, just as the school celebrates its 10th anniversary. A ribbon...

By Imran Ghori |

New center promotes holistic approach to wellness

UC Riverside is taking its approach to health and wellness to a new level with the opening of the Student Health and Counseling Center later this month. The 39,450-square-foot, two-story building at the north side of campus brings together medical, mental health, and wellbeing services into one location and modern facility for the first time. A...

By Imran Ghori |

New path improves northside access, soccer field

A new walkway under construction at UC Riverside will provide easier access at the northwest corner of campus, including to and from a major new student housing project. The South Recreation Mall project began construction in spring and is expected to be completed by fall, said Daneca Stevens, a project manager with the Office of Planning, Design...

By Imran Ghori |

Native American Garden grows at the center of campus

Trees and plants are sprouting in the center of the UC Riverside campus as the new Native American Garden nears completion. A landscape contractor began planting trees, bushes, and other vegetation this spring in a 20,000-square-foot area in the upper mall outside the Highlander Union Building, or HUB, next to Pierce Hall. The garden is intended to...

By Imran Ghori |

UCR to see another construction boom

UC Riverside will see a major increase in construction activity in the coming months with several significant projects nearing completion or beginning soon. Those include a new School of Business building, which held its groundbreaking on April 27, and completion of a new School of Medicine building that will open this fall. Preliminary plans are...

By Imran Ghori |

Parking structure wins award from transportation group

UC Riverside’s new parking structure has won multiple awards from an international parking and transportation organization. Big Springs Parking Structure 2, which opened in fall 2021 on the east end of campus, received the Award of Excellence for Sustainable Design from the International Parking & Mobility Institute, a world-wide association of...

By Imran Ghori |

New high-tech greenhouse facility opens to researchers

At the top floor of UC Riverside’s new Plant Research 1 building, geneticist Julia Bailey-Serres is testing how to grow rice to withstand drought and flooding conditions in countries like India. In the laboratory next to her, researcher Bao-Lam Huynh is growing new varieties of cowpea plants that will be sent to Africa. Their work takes advantage...

By Imran Ghori |

School of Business celebrates groundbreaking for its new building

UC Riverside celebrated a new chapter for the School of Business with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new instructional and administrative building that will provide increased space and modern facilities to meet growing enrollment demands. Campus and community leaders gathered Thursday, April 27 at former Parking Lot 8, where the four-story, 63,400...

By Imran Ghori |

Stairway to nature

The campus community now has easier access to the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens on a stairway connected to a scenic path. The Office of Planning, Design and Construction recently completed construction of the stairway on a small hill on the east side of campus that provides a shortcut to the gardens. The stairway was built over a steep incline...

By Imran Ghori |

Student Success Center honored in Riverside city awards

UC Riverside has once again taken a top honor at the city of Riverside’s annual beautification awards in January. The Student Success Center won first place in the Maintenance of Existing Facility and Landscaping category in the Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful Awards. The honorees were announced Jan. 27 at Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson’s State of...

By Imran Ghori |

Native American Garden project underway

UC Riverside has begun work on a Native American Garden in the center of campus that pays respect to the region’s original inhabitants. The garden is planned for a 20,000-square-foot area in the upper mall outside the Highland Union Building, or HUB, and next to the recently renovated Pierce Hall. Preliminary work on the project began over the...

By Imran Ghori |

Arts Building gets a facelift

In early December, construction crews began work on repairs to the Performance Lab, which houses a theater in the center of the building and is next to the stairs that face out to the Arts Walk area. Crews, who installed fencing and scaffolding around the building, have already completed the installation of a new roof, replacing one that had become...

By Imran Ghori |

UCR solar panel installation named project of the year

A project installing solar panels on two UC Riverside buildings has won a top prize from a solar energy industry publication. Solar Builder Magazine awarded the Rooftop Project of the Year to the campus for a project installing over 1,000 solar panels on the Student Recreation Center and Student Services Building roofs last year. The two...

By Imran Ghori |

Student Success Center wins national award

UC Riverside’s Student Success Center has won another top award for its design from a national industry group. The Design Build Institute of America recognized the new campus building with an award for excellence in its educational facilities category. The project had been previously honored in August from the Western regional division of the group...

By Imran Ghori |

SOM project marks major milestone

UC Riverside’s new School of Medicine building project recently passed a major milestone with construction more than halfway complete. Construction crews celebrated a topping-off of the new building last month, placing the top steel beam on the five-level structure. Many of the main elements of the concrete structure, including walls, columns, and...

By Imran Ghori |

Batchelor Hall renovation upgrades aging building

A renovation project at UC Riverside’s Batchelor Hall is expected to give the aging building a major upgrade. The project, which began in December, will replace old and outdated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems at one of the oldest campus buildings. Fire sprinklers will be installed, and the building will get a new roof as part of the...

By Imran Ghori |