Dabney Hall Renovation
Renovations in Dabney Hall have begun. The building will remain occupied as floor-by-floor renovations take place.
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Dabney Hall, which has served as the main chemistry building since its 1969 construction, is undergoing its first comprehensive renovation as of October 2025. The project will involve completely clearing out each floor and building it back new, including new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, electrical systems, and life-safety systems. To date, $140 million has been allocated to the renovation, and more funding will be required to see the project to completion.
The first phase of construction is underway and will be completed by spring 2028.
Meanwhile, planning for the next phase begins.
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Progress Towards Completion
Dabney Hall Renovation
Phase 1
Phase 1 of the Dabney Hall renovation will focus on updating the seventh and eighth floors of Dabney Hall, as well as a portion of the ground floor of Cox Hall. New air-handling, electrical, generator and life-safety systems will be installed as part of this project. The occupants of Dabney Hall will remain on the ground floor through the fifth floor during the renovation, and classes will continue until construction begins on those floors.
Features of Interior Spaces
Each renovated research floor features two large shared laboratory spaces with laboratory support rooms for specific research functions. There are two shared graduate student office spaces which open to each lab, and faculty and staff offices along the east side. Just across from the elevators is a collaboration space, kitchenette, and small conference room.
A generic laboratory in Dabney Hall
with modular, non-fixed casework. Ratios of hood, bench, and floor space vary by research group. Note the floor-to-ceiling windows and windows into the student office space.
The exterior of the building will take on a new appearance as the windows will be replaced with floor to ceiling windows, starting from the eighth floor. Dabney Hall and Cox Hall will be merged into one building. The stairwell and walls separating them will be removed, and the restroom facilities will be located on the Cox Hall side on floors three to six.
Associated Project: Broughton Hall Renovation
To prepare for the Dabney Hall renovation, several other renovation projects were completed over the past two years. The largest of these was the complete renovation of the third and fourth floors of Broughton Hall, the diesel wing of Broughton Hall, and one laboratory suite in Cox Hall.
A laboratory in Broughton Hall
The walls and original flooring were preserved, but everything else inside the spaces is entirely new.
Woodson Hall
The Integrative Sciences Initiative (ISI) and Woodson Hall unite a dynamic community of interdisciplinary scholars committed to developing molecular solutions that address society’s most pressing human, animal and plant health challenges. Woodson Hall