On a chilly Sunday morning, a group of UC Riverside Facilities Services employees gathered to watch a leaf blower fly over the campus. The leaf blower was attached to a large drone that took off from a nearby lawn and hovered over the Pierce Hall roof as part of a test in late April to see if the department can use drones to clean drains and...

UC Riverside’s Orbach Library has a new roof as a part of a recently completed renovation project. The work, completed in early December, involved the complete demolition of the existing roof and replacing it with a new roofing system. The new roof is made of a fiberglass material with a 40-year life that has been used on other roof replacement...

UC Riverside’s Orbach Library will get a new roof as a part of a renovation project that began in September. The project involves a complete demolition of the existing roof and replacing it with a new roofing system. The work is expected to be completed in December, weather permitting. The old roof of the 1998 building had become leaky, with water...

UC Riverside is testing out a new ground cover plant that could reduce water usage while keeping the campus looking green. Kurapia, a low-growing leafy ground cover, was planted at the Pentland Hills and Glen Mor student residence halls by Facilities Services in late June. The landscape crew is testing out the plant, which requires less water than...

Bright blooms can be spotted around the UC Riverside campus with new spring flower plantings. In May, Facilities Services planted over 800 flowers in key areas of campus that are expected to bloom all summer long. It’s part of a regular rotation to provide variety and vibrant colors timed to different seasons by the Landscape Services team. At the...

As UC Riverside marks Earth Month with a number of activities, the campus is taking more steps to meet its zero-waste goal. Facilities Services now diverts over half of the material previously sent to landfills to recycling and composting streams. A recent change in waste haulers has allowed the campus to recycle and compost even more material...

A garden has been planted near UC Riverside’s westside entrance, providing a new look to the strip of land while creating a more sustainable and bee-friendly environment. Facilities Services removed grass turf from the 3,200-square-foot area in front of Parking Lot 1, across from Hinderaker Hall, and replaced it with plants, trees, and cobblestone...

At night, UC Riverside’s campus looks different as the daytime hustle and bustle gives way to a quiet stillness. But behind the scenes, a busy group of employees is responsible for keeping vital operations running. The overnight shift includes police officers patrolling the campus, custodial crews cleaning buildings, and Dining Services employees...

The UC Riverside campus has all sorts of trees, from mature oaks that date to the 1950s to rare varieties such as a single monkey puzzle tree near Olmsted Hall. But until recently there were no precise records of the number of trees, their location, the type of species, and their condition. A partial inventory was started in 2014 but never...

A newly renovated restroom at UC Riverside’s Spieth Hall is part of a pilot project to add more gender inclusive facilities on campus. The project represents a major step towards increased accessibility for members of the transgender, gender-nonconforming, and LGBT community on campus who have advocated for more gender inclusive restrooms in...

Finding a chilled and filtered drink of water at UC Riverside is easier than ever. The UCR Healthy Beverage Initiative, part of the larger UC Healthy Beverage Initiative, has completed installation of 47 new hydration stations and water fillers throughout campus. The installations, which were delayed in part due to the pandemic, began last year and...

UC Riverside classrooms received a fresh shine while campus grounds were spruced up as part of 195 summer projects completed in advance of the fall quarter. Facilities Services completed the deep cleaning of about 100 classrooms as well as many restrooms, lecture halls, common spaces, and lounges as part of the regular maintenance in advance of...

UC Riverside’s Facilities Services has launched a new request process for campus construction and maintenance requests that is aimed at increasing efficiency. The change, which will be implemented over the coming months, affects how schools and colleges submit new faculty projects such as interior remodeling and other space adjustments. Adam...

Irma Andrade, a senior custodian with UC Riverside’s Facilities Services, has been honored by an industry magazine as an exceptional employee with an attention to detail. Andrade was featured as one of the “Faces of the Frontline” in a recent issue of Clean Link, an online site which covers the cleaning industry. The article describes how she’s...

UC Riverside is beginning to open up its core campus again, returning to daytime weekday access for campus buildings. Starting Aug. 16, Facilities Services will begin unlocking and locking buildings at their normal operating hours as the campus prepares for the return of more in-person work and instruction this fall. Campus buildings had been...

Free R’Garden vegetables available at chancellor’s coffee socials.