These days, the renovation of Hedge and Roger Williams halls seems to be all about the concrete — taking it out and putting it in.

In Roger Bill, it’s been coming out. Workers have pulled out chunks of the basement floor to make way for new plumbing and to cut openings for 19 new footers that will support the building’s new interior steel framework.

But wait a minute — the footers will be concrete, too. Replace concrete with concrete?

Say, what’s the big idea? we asked project manager Paul Farnsworth. He explained that plain old basement-floor concrete isn’t strong enough to hold up the steel (and thereby the building). So the footers will be reinforced with those ridged steel bars called rebar.

“The footers distribute the point load of the steel over a wider area of ground,” Farnsworth said.

Over at Hedge, meanwhile, the concrete was flowing left and right. So-called shotcrete, or sprayed concrete, was applied to the outside of the eastern foundation wall. That created a nice smooth surface for dampproofing — that being the black stuff that you could see if you stood on a soapbox, peeked over the fence and looked at the foundation wall that faces Ladd Library.

The same work will soon be done to Roger Bill, with a trench all around the foundation providing access.

Concrete was being pumped inside of Hedge this week, too. Some of it went into the same kind of footers, of which Hedge also gets 19. But some concrete went inside to form something that reminded Campus Construction Update of a Zen Buddhist koan. This “one-sided wall,” Farnsworth explained, is a new layer added to the vertical plane of a wall.

“Essentially, we use the existing wall as part of the form” into which the concrete is poured, he said. “They really just made the wall thicker, and of course there are rebars and such in there that tie the old foundation to this new part.”

Above ground level, Hedge looks like a mere husk of its former self, with nearly all its windows gone and a gaping hole on the north side. Its appearance will get worse, too, because most of the roof will soon come off. We asked Farnsworth what all this exposure to the elements means for the building’s interior.

Interestingly, not that much. The biggest concern is protecting the historic brick as the roof is removed. “They’ll cover it so we don’t flush water down into the brick,” he said. “The other stuff is no different from if you were building a new building and rain gets on it.”

Meanwhile, although you won’t see it for a few weeks, there has been progress in obtaining the steel that will ultimately hold up these buildings and their heavier new roofs. (The wall bricks have done that job for the past century.)

Before anyone actually lays a hand on metal, a steel fabricator needs to interpret the architects’ design. “The fabricator has an engineer and they actually do the measurements,” Farnsworth explained. “They’re told what sizes they need by the architect, but for all the exact lengths, they have to survey and create lengths to meet field conditions.”

The steel fabricator makes a set of drawings that are submitted for checking to the engineer of record, Becker Structural Engineers, Inc., and the architect, which in this case is JSA Inc., of Portsmouth, N.H. The drawings created by Northland Steel Corp. of North Reading, Mass., for Roger Bill, and United Steel Deck, Inc., of Summit, N.J., for Hedge are currently in final review.

“We’re thinking that in June, the stuff will show up on site and they’ll start putting it together.”

Notes from Underground: Watch for some gas-line work in the next week or so between Hedge and Ladd Library. A line currently running in front of Hedge — that is, on the Alumni Walk side- — and feeding Dana Chemistry is in the way of the forthcoming Hedge addition and will be rerouted around the south side.

“So at some point there will be a one-day event where we dig a trench and Unitil, the gas people, puts down a new pipe,” says Farnsworth.

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions and comments, unless they’re mean, about the Hedge-Roger Williams renovation project. Please e-mail staff writer Doug Hubley at this E-mail, stating “Construction Update” in the subject line.

About nine months remain before students move into the new student housing, adjacent to Rand Hall.

And, much the way an image materializes on an old-fashioned photo in its chemical bath, the outlines of the facility are taking clear shape. As the mass of the structure becomes perceptible, the stretch of College Street between it and the Chapel is taking on a new intimacy that suggests how this redefined area will feel. (See a campus map.)

What really seemed to bring home the building’s form and scale was the recent completion of the gables on the two wings, also called “flankers.” This week, steel trusses and other components for the roof started to arrive — 130 trusses, 47 beams for the two roof levels of the center section, and countless other wood and metal items, according to project manager Pam Wichroski.

A row of seven “doghouse” dormers on the east and west sides is creating a distinctive sawtoothed roofline on the wings. The western dormers will look out on Mount David, and the eastern set, College Street.

The walls of the facility’s center section are quickly catching up with those of the wings. Last week the concrete planks for the section’s third floor were laid and the basement floor, tinted a dark gray, was poured. And the roughing-in of electrical, plumbing and mechanical services in the flankers is moving apace, Wichroski said.

Finally, she said, workers have begun to install siding on the new bike shed, next to the existing Rand Hall. The shed will provide secure storage for some 40 bikes.

Steel to rise at Commons: The steel framework of the new dining Commons will begin to take shape next week. A crane is scheduled to arrive Tuesday, Jan. 16, and the steel itself will start rolling in the following day, said project manager Paul Farnsworth. The steel, manufactured by the Quebecois company Canatal Industries Inc., will come in four waves totaling 15 to 20 truckloads.

The framing work will begin in the northeast corner of the foundation. To make way for the steel deliveries, Farnsworth said, the current path between Alumni Gym and the construction site will be closed to pedestrian traffic, although access to the gym’s basement door will remain.

Meanwhile, preliminary foundation work for the dining hall is virtually complete. Digging has begun for the last section of the frost wall, the northwest corner where a fireplace lounge will be located. That section was left for last, Farnsworth explained, because of the complex curvature of the walls.

“With the foundation work pretty much complete, they’re going to clean up the site to give the crane and the steel workers room to move,” Farnsworth said. “Those miscellaneous materials that are sitting around and the last of the muck and debris will be cleared from around the building.”

More about the tree-cutting: As this space announced would occur in December, trees along Andrews Road were removed during the Christmas vacation.

Seventy-eight trees were cut down in a swath wider than the roadway — reaching, in fact, into the landscaped areas between buildings, although a few landmark trees were spared. The work was done in preparation for construction of the Bates Walk, construction that will include the planting of 178 native paper birch trees. The walk is scheduled for completion by October 2007.

The clearing was publicized on campus last October through informational gatherings about the village and Commons-Bates Walk projects. Still, a number of people were dismayed to return to campus on Jan. 2 and find all the stumps between the buildings on Andrews.

Driving the tree removal were factors including wide-ranging excavation for utilities work, regrading and the landscaping plan for the Bates Walk, which will be replanted in the form of a grove comprising only birches. In a Jan. 9 e-mail to staff and faculty, President Elaine Tuttle Hansen also made the important point that some plantings were removed so that the banking between Dana Chemistry and Hathorn can be regraded for handicapped accessibility. “The new plan makes this whole part of campus more accessible to the physically disabled,” she wrote.

Numbering about 470, the entering class of 2001 features students from 35 states and 14 countries. Scholastically, 36 percent of the class ranked within the top five percent of their high school graduating class, the highest percentage since institutional data became available in 1981. Fifty-six percent of the first-year students are from New England, consistent with recent years, while applications from Maine students showed a 10-percent increase. Multicultural students make up nine percent of the class and more than half of the Class of ’01 is receiving some form of financial aid.

Owned by the college since 1939, 32 Frye St. is being converted into a student-operated coffeehouse for members of the Bates community and their guests. The 4,000 square foot building is the site where local construction workers recently discovered civil war-era correspondence between Bates professor Uriah Balkam and his wife, Annie. Upon completion this fall, the capacity of the two-story house will be in excess of 250 people. The coffeehouse will provide additional social options to students in a non alcoholic setting.

Renovation work is being done by Ouellet Construction of Brunswick in conjunction with Bates College physical plant crews. Until the recent renovations, the Bates-owned house was used as a dual-family dwelling. The house will be wheelchair-accessible on the first level, where some of the walls have been removed to create an open, airy ambiance. A room for smoking patrons will also be available.

The student-run operation will feature student programming and a menu offering a variety of coffees and pastries. “We’re really excited about the possibilities for this informal space within our community and look forward to an additional, relaxed setting where students, faculty and staff can gather,” said Peter Taylor, assistant dean of students at Bates.

The coffeehouse is expected to open sometime at the start of the 1997-98 academic year. Second-floor renovations are incomplete, but at some later date, upstairs meeting rooms will be used by student groups and organizations. The house has been connected on both floors to the garage, formerly a barn, which will be used as a performance area on the first floor, and a gallery upstairs.

Renovations at the Den in Chase Hall include new music equipment and a big screen TV in addition to enhanced food production including a conveyor oven for hot sandwiches, nachos, buffalo wings and small pizzas as well as the establishment of a pub with limited hours when beer will be served to those 21 and over. Proper identification will be required at the door, where bracelets will be distributed differentiating between those 21 years of age and older and minors. Wait staff will take orders at the tables, checking bracelet identifications and ensuring that minors are not served.

Pub clientele will be limited to members of the Bates community and their guests. Initially, the pub will operate on Fridays and Saturdays between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. with beer service ending at 1 a.m. Managed by dining services at Bates, “the pub’s operation will be in strict compliance with Maine liquor laws,” Taylor said. The Den will continue to operate as a snack bar during the day, serving breakfast and lunch.

More than 50 local businesses have been invited to participate in the annual Merchants Fair Sept. 4 in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building for a day-long display of merchandise and services available to Bates students.