South House Construction

The new dining hall at South House, beset by numerous delays since construction began in late August, will be ready for occupancy in mid-June, five months after its scheduled completion date, Robert Thomas, manager of the Construction Management Division of the Harvard Planning Office, said Monday.

The resignation of the project manager of the construction company, problems with the acquisition of materials and bad weather, all contributed to the delay.

"You have here a negative dynamic motion where its problems tend to feed on themselves and they have a snowball effect," Thomas said.

The problems began in the fall with a three-week delay in the steel delivery, and the wet weather which prevented completion of the concrete foundation. Thomas said.

John B. Cruz, the owner of the construction firm, said yesterday the winter storm knocked down the staging for the brick work two times and together with the heavy snow helped to delay the project four weeks.