Three months into the semester, construction on four UA buildings is continuing, although one project is behind schedule.

Construction of the new Family and Consumer Sciences building will begin this month as construction continues for the BIO5 building, which was expected to be completed last month, said Melissa Dryden, public information coordinator for Facilities Design and Construction at the UA.

Construction for McClelland Park, the future Family and Consumer Sciences building, begins this month. The $22.5 million expansion of the Student Recreation Center is still being designed, according to the Facilities Design and Construction Web site.

The Helen S. Schaefer building, future home of the UA Poetry Center, the Architecture building expansion and the Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch building, future home of the BIO5 program, are still under construction.

The BIO5 building, a high-tech laboratory facility for collaborative science, agriculture, medicine, pharmacy and engineering research, is behind schedule, with its Dec. 1 dedication two months after the completion date expected by Facilities Design and Construction, according to the Web site.

Since BIO5 is not a classroom building that students are waiting to use immediately, it is not as serious that it is running over schedule, Dryden said.

Dryden said she doesn’t know why the $65.6 million BIO5 building is running behind schedule.

“”Often the complexity of the building can contribute to why a building is off schedule, or if the building includes laboratories or the cooling and the heating need to be modified,”” Dryden said.

The BIO5 building will not have its own parking structure, but Parking and Transportation Services will likely build a new garage on North Cherry Avenue, although no date for construction has been set, said Patrick Kass, director of PTS.

“”We built the Highland (Avenue Parking) Garage just to the west to meet the demands of those buildings in the short term,”” Kass said.

The $6.8 million Schaefer building, funded entirely by gifts, is scheduled for completion this spring, Dryden said.

The $9.4 million Architecture building expansion is on schedule to open at the end of this year.

The UA is in the initial stages of planning for the expansion on the east side of the Rec Center, Dryden said.

Students will have the opportunity to voice their opinions about the Rec Center expansion tomorrow at a town hall meetingin the Tucson room of the Student Union Memorial Center at 7 p.m.

“”They are still trying to figure out what the priorities of the students are,”” Dryden said. “”They have discussed adding a climbing wall, expanding the weight room and adding more multipurpose and aerobic rooms.””

Construction on the Rec Center expansion will begin in fall 2008 and is expected to finish in 2009. The Rec Center will continue to stay open for students while construction is going on, Dryden said.