UR law school completes $28M renovation project

A recently completed $27.5 million renovation project at the University of Richmond School of Law included improvements to study spaces and creation of a dedicated commons. (Photos courtesy University of Richmond)

The University of Richmond has finished a multiyear renovation to its law school, just in time for the arrival of students for the fall semester.

The $27.5 million project wrapped up earlier this month and involved creating new study spaces and a dedicated commons area, as well as replacing the building’s HVAC system and other improvements.

In addition to improvements to lighting and other features of study areas, the project added more group-study areas to the building to bring it more in line with student study habits, University of Richmond School of Law Dean Wendy Perdue said.

“We wanted the space to reflect how our students work these days. We needed more space that was group focused. Students like to study together,” she said.

The project also involved the construction of new office space, so that now the law school’s entire faculty can work out of the same building. Previously some faculty members had their offices outside the law school. Space also was created for the law school’s clinics, which were being held elsewhere on campus.

Also included in the project were improvements to the school’s moot courtroom, where students participate in mock trials and ceremonies. Additional study space was added to the school’s library, as was a “green roof,” a 700-square-foot layer of succulents on the top of the building intended to reduce energy needs and rainwater runoff.

The moot courtroom at the University of Richmond’s law school, which was among the spaces in the building to be improved in the multiyear renovation project.

Discussions about how to maximize the use of the 110,000-square-foot law school building started around 2018 or 2019, Perdue said. The project evolved into a more significant revamp for the decades-old building when it became clear the HVAC system was in need of a major overhaul.

“The building opened in ’52 and has been added onto a couple times. The HVAC system had been added onto each time. There were parts dating back to the late ’70s, and I think parts were literally duct taped. We needed a complete system overhaul and that meant going back to the studs,” Perdue said. “Once it became apparent that’s what we had to do, we said, ‘OK, if we have to do that, when we put it back together let’s think about what we want it to be like.’”

Perdue said a primary consideration of the project was how to make the law school a better home base for its 420 students, many of whom don’t live on campus and spend most of their time at UR within the law school.

“Very few of our students live on campus. Everyone is commuting in. So trying to make it a space that they can plan to come to for a day, day after day, was an important part of this,” Perdue said.

The project’s general contractor was Kjellstrom + Lee. University of Richmond Architectural Services and Worley Associates Architects handled the project’s architectural design. KSA Interiors handled interior design.

The “green roof” was added to the University of Richmond School of Law.

The project began in the winter of 2020-2021 and was completed in phases. The building remained open during the project, which didn’t expand the school’s footprint. The last major project at the law school was an expansion completed in the early 1990s, which added to the building the moot court room, a wing of the library and two classrooms.

Elsewhere on campus is an ongoing project at the Boatwright Memorial Library. In March, the university announced it had secured bond financing from the Virginia College Building Authority to support the library renovation and other capital projects on campus. The law school project was funded through the university’s reserves and wasn’t part of the bond package.