After undergoing a semester of renovation and refurnishing, Turlington Residence Hall is reopening today. Students who are being relocated can begin moving in at 8 a.m.

Turlington has been closed all semester to allow the additions of air conditioning, fire sprinklers and an upgraded fire alarm system, according to Tim Blair, associate director of University Housing for East Campus. Housing also arranged for the addition of new furniture in each room.

“We want to air condition all of our spaces because the students overwhelmingly are choosing to be in air-conditioned spaces,” Blair said. “Also it’s been a very ongoing and high priority to upgrade the fire-suppression system in all our main residence halls on campus.”

Students moving into Turlington are either residents from Turlington in the previous semester or current residents in Wood Hall.

Housing is closing Wood Hall A and giving students the choice to relocate across the courtyard to Wood Hall B, which has also already been renovated, or Turlington, according to Blair. Wood Hall A will be going under renovations similar to those in Turlington, to install sprinkler systems, upgrade the fire alarm system and replace fan units.

“Wood has been air conditioned since 25 years ago and the fan cool unit was starting to go bad,” Blair said. “We’re redoing condensation lines so the installation of [fresh] air can meet today’s standards.”

Students have been able to relocate to Wood Hall B from Wood Hall A since Monday, according to Blair.

Steven Valenziano, freshman in industrial design, is moving from Wood Hall A to Turlington within the next week. He said he’d rather be on Central Campus because it is more convenient.

“All the work they’re doing is really loud and we’ve had fire alarms go off 10 hours out of the day,” Valenziano said. “Wood is just really dead and it’s not the best environment.”

However, other students besides previous Turlington and Wood residents plan to move into Turlington today.

“I am moving to Turlington because I want to be closer to my sister who was previously a Turlington resident,” Kimberley Thurston, a freshman in education, said.

Blair said the Turlington move-in date was projected based on the furniture’s arrival and hiring of Resident Advisors.

“We had to make sure there is staff there,” Blair said. “We have all administrated the process in making sure rooms are clean and the furniture is ready to go.”

Housing has been communicating with residents since the beginning of the process to give them as much notice and time as possible, according to Blair.

However, some students said moving today is an inconvenience.

“I just hate how they’re making all of us move so close to exam time,” Thurston said. “It’s kind of making things more stressful.”

Grant Kennedy, a freshman in criminology, is being relocated from Wood to Turlington. He said the date is inconvenient for him because he has two exams Monday.

“But it’s not as inconvenient for me as it is for other people,” Kennedy said. “I have heard a few other people complain about it.”

However, Valenziano said it won’t inconvenience him and his roommate.

“I don’t really have a problem with it,” he said. “I’m fine with the date.”

Blair said University Housing is trying to do as much as possible to make it a more convenient process for students. He said those moving don’t necessarily have to do it today and can work around their exams.

“If they have days in between exams to move, then they can move during that time,” Blair said.

To also make it less stressful, Blair said Wood residents have the option to allow Housing staff to help with the move.

“People will have to bring their belongings to a truck and that way if someone doesn’t have a car, they don’t have to lug all their belongings in boxes across campus,” Blair said. “That way we can provide some assistance in the process to help out and make it less of a headache.”

Although Blair said he realizes moving at this time of year is not easy, he thinks students will be pleased with the renovations.

“We are very excited about the renovations that have occurred and the new furniture,” Blair said. “I think students are really going to like it.”