Upgrades, maintenance top $6 million
By Jo Zulkowsky
Technology upgrades and campus maintenance projects over the next couple of years will top $6 million.
The projects, all part of the college’s Master Plan, include installing more SMART classrooms, installing new air ducts in buildings A, B, and C, replacing the fire alarm system, and replacing the boiler flu stacks in buildings A and E.
SMART classrooms, four of which have been completed, are rooms "that contain the proper equipment that allows instructors to use all types of electronic media to supplement their instruction," according to Harold Barnes, director of computer services.
Ten to 13 more classrooms are scheduled to be completed by November 1999, at a cost estimated at about $18,000 each. The rooms will include a computer equipped with a multimedia and a DVD drive, a VCR, a document camera, a ceiling-mounted projector and an instructor console.
College President Dr. Jean Goodnow said making more classrooms SMART is important to keep up with the tools and technology of the future.
"It is important to deliver instruction in a high tech manner," she said.
The most expensive project being planned is the installation of new air ducts in buildings A, B, and C estimated to cost about $6 million.
Dr. Goodnow said the current ductwork is 30 years old, and because of that age, the insulation contains asbestos which has to be enclosed, contained or removed. Removing all of the asbestos would cost about $35 million, Dr. Goodnow said. The current plan is to abate the asbestos by enclosing or containing it.
The air duct project is still in the planning stages, but it will be a yearlong project. During that year, offices and classrooms, any areas where the work is going on, will have to be moved.
Dr. Goodnow said the manufacturing lab on the bottom floor of building D would be moved to the East Campus to allow that area to be used as a staging area. As work begins in each area, the offices located there will be moved to the bottom floor of building D until the ductwork is complete.
Installation of a new fire alarm system is scheduled to begin in the next two months. Larry Rousey, Director of Physical Plant, said bids would be let on Feb. 15 with actual installation to begin in mid-April.
The current alarm system is 30 years old, Rousey explained, and code regulations have changed over those years.
The new system will be an Appoint Address system, meaning that it can relay an exact location of smoke instead of just identifying a general zone. The new system will also connect to the Oglesby Fire Department and two locations on campus – Safety Services and the Physical Plant Office.
The alarm system will be paid through Life Safety bonds and it is budgeted for about $325,000.
Dr. Goodnow said she did not anticipate any inconveniences during installation because the work can be done over holidays, weekends, and early morning.
Boiler flu stacks in building A and E are also scheduled for replacement, with bids to be let in February and work to begin in April or May. Rousey said the work was estimated to take about three weeks and to cost about $25,500.
The stacks in building A are 30 years old and the ones in building E are 22 years old, Rousey said.
One project recently completed was the installation of a new ventilation system in the biology lab. Installed over the holiday break to avoid disrupting classes, the system was installed by Du-Mont Co. of Peoria and cost an estimated $185,000, Rousey said.
Dr. Goodnow said the ventilation system is a vital part of the lab.
"The new system was needed due to the failure of the exhaust valve pullout on the old one," she said.
To install the system, a platform was built outside of the lab, in the courtyard, and pipe work installed in the lab.
Rousey said, "These projects are being done for the overall protection, health, and safety of IVCC’s students, staff and faculty."
1/28/99 the Apache