Take a quick stroll around the campus of Elon University and much of what you see can be traced back to the leadership of one man. After 17 years and countless projects, Neil Bromilow, director of Planning, Design and Construction Management, is retiring.
His tenure included more than 50 projects ranging from behind-the-scenes renovations of the boiler system to the more visible construction of Belk Library. Bromilow was directly responsible for more than doubling the size of Elon's campus from 900,000 to 2.1 million square feet.
Arriving in 1995 as a contractor hired through ARAMARK, Bromilow became a one-man construction team in 1998 at the start of what he called a "construction boom." Since then, the office has expanded to include an assistant director, project manager and interior designer.
But that doesn't mean the projects have gotten less complex. On the contrary, said Bromilow, the process has become tougher.
"When I got here in 1995, it was 'Here is a project, let's go get it, it's done,' and the only thing we had to worry about was finding a contractor and getting the job built," he said. "Now, there are layers of bureaucracy, not from us, but from others."
Bromilow's process of starting work on a new project has remained constant but has been affected by questions not always relating directly back to construction. That problematic, external red tape includes everything from getting approval from the town, new environmental requirements from Elon for buildings and local laws dictating everything from storm water run-off to parking lots.
"You start off with a basic pile of questions, that would be 'How big is the building? How big are the walls?'" he said. "Now you add on top of that, 'Where does this sign go in the parking lot? Do you have a smoking policy? Can you prove you used local bricks?' Just one thing equals more reviews and becomes a string of more things to do."
The process has not always gone off without a hitch. A delay in the delivery of windows for the new Belk Library not only postponed the opening of the new building, but also delayed the renovation of the current McEwen School of Communications, which formerly housed the library.
"You're the captain of the Titanic, the first iceberg has already hit you and you're sitting there and here comes the second iceberg," Bromilow said.
A team worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week, eventually completing the building right before the arrival of students for the first day of school.
In many ways, Bromilow's legacy has been a physical one, defined by the brick and mortar he had a direct role in laying. But more than that, he said he hopes he is remembered for ensuring the work kept going, even when problems arose.
"For anybody — contractors, architects, technical folks — whatever the problem was, there would be an answer quickly and it would be resolved. That's the legacy of me," Bromilow said. "We've had problems and they got fixed quickly and we kept moving."
After 20 years of traveling with the Navy, including a stint in Vietnam building apartments, and Ireland, where he met his wife on a blind date, Bromilow said he plans to take a sabbatical before he determines his actual retirement path.
"It's been like riding down the freeway at high speed in the back of a pickup truck with lots of bugs hitting you in the face," he said. "Things are going by as a blur, but at the end you end up in Myrtle Beach. It's just a journey getting there."