Construction for a new courtyard between the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) Fairchild and Huddleston halls is expected to be wrapped up by Nov. 2025, improving previous safety concerns in the area. The $508,000 project will include new concrete, design layout, landscaping, and the installation of street lights. The Huddleston Fairchild Courtyard project, which started in mid-Sept. 2025 had been a long time coming for UNH’s Facilities Project Management.
The staircases had been rusted and damaged due to general use, their age, and snow plowing in the winter. This was a safety hazard for students and faculty traveling through the courtyard. Before the construction, the railings were in an almost unusable state and weren’t up to code.
“From the time that those railings were originally created and now, they're deficient for height, for safety. So we’re gonna put in some steel railings that are common on campus at the top of that wall, and then going down,” said UNH Senior Project Engineer Matt Mancini.
Along with upgrading safety measures, the project also included changing the design to one staircase instead of two. Minimizing the structure will cost less and allow easier access for plowing in the winter. This change is part of an effort to “keep the sidewalks wide enough so that the plows can get through without hitting the handrails,” Mancini said. The winter was especially challenging due to the harsh New England climate.
The problem with the staircase didn’t go unnoticed to UNH faculty, such as the Director of the UNH Honors College, Catherine Peebles, whose office in Huddleston made her very familiar with the courtyards’ flaws. She has been supportive of the renovation and inquired about the project last year.
“I was thinking every time I used those stairs, which I do every day, this is a safety issue,” said Peebles.“This should not be like this.”
The construction resulted in noise and temporarily closed entrances, which have disrupted students in Fairchild Hall.
“The leaving and entering has been difficult, they shut the main door I use all the time for a week or two, and it was a pain,” said Fairchild Resident Izzy Broschk.
The landscaping of the courtyard has been limited due to budget constraints. Currently, there are plans to plant grass in the Spring, and the Sustainability Institute will potentially organize pollinated gardens.
Post Undergraduate Sustainability Innovation Fellow, Emily Abrusci, had already worked on planting a garden behind Huddleston and the Memorial Union Building (MUB). This public planting event, a partnership between the Sustainability and Honors program, allowed students to sign up, making it an opportunity for these students.
“Our interns could do it themselves in an hour, but we choose to have it be an educational opportunity,” Abrusci said.
There are plans for Sustainability to work on the area under construction, but they are unsure about whether they'll plant within the courtyard itself. “That landscaping company came in and planted all of the front of Huddleston and Hetzel, but they specifically left those areas in the back of the courtyard for us,” Abrusci said.
