BUTLER TWP — Butler County Community College is set to entirely replace the HVAC system in the Science and Technology Building and attached Succop Theater.

The college’s board of trustees voted Wednesday afternoon, April 15, to approve a proposal by Tudi Mechanical Systems to replace boilers, chillers, hydronic pumps and other associated systems. The project, which costs $2,457,000, is expected to take six months.

Jake Friel, vice president of administration and finance, said the project received half its funding through state grants. He added the project is “much needed” and “long awaited” by staff and students that use the building.

“Temperature swings are very common in the building,” he said. “It’s something that will definitely provide better comfort and from the standpoint of routine maintenance and monitoring.”

Friel said another added benefit of the new system is that it will significantly improve the ability to remotely monitor HVAC conditions on campus.

“It does provide a blanket of security for making sure our systems are operating. We can ward off any bigger damages of the HVAC if a specific section is not working,” he explained to the board.

Brian Opitz, executive director of operations for the college, said there will be a meeting next week to figure out the logistics of the replacement so the building can still be utilized through the coming months.

“The logistics will be a challenge. We’ve got kids on campus, got a lot of activities in this facility during that time; but those are some of those logistics we’ll be talking about,” he said.

He said while the price tag might seem like a daunting figure, he feels it is a good deal for the 79,000 square foot space.

“Although people might go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s just for this building?’ It’s very much proportional for the building’s size,” Opitz said.

He said he anticipates work beginning in mid-May, after commencement, and lasting until fall.