By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Final stages of college trades, technology building coming together quickly

Jan 17, 2017 | 3:09 PM

LETHBRIDGE- A nearly three year long vision is on-schedule for completion in early July at Lethbridge College.
 
Phase two of the enormous trades and technology facility broke ground October 2015, with the exterior walls and roof completed in early December 2016. Workers have now moved inside, with interior construction well underway.
 
“We’ve got all local trades here doing all the work… All the money that’s being spent on this building will stay in the area. We’ve been very fortunate in that,” Francis Rankin, senior project manager, was proud to say. He added that hundreds of Lethbridge College alumni have a huge part in the building, as well.
 
At this time, a 130 member crew is hard at work hanging drywall,  polishing the concrete floors and painting on the main floor. Their focus will then shift upstairs to start on the finishing touches of the building’s offices and meeting rooms.
 
The 127,495-square foot building will eventually be home to the engineering design and drafting, interior design technology, wind turbine technician, electrician apprenticeship training and welder apprenticeship training programs, along with room for the centre for applied research and the trades support shop.
 
To make room for the new facility, around 12-percent of the campus had to be torn down. Rankin explained that the project’s energy efficiency will not cost anything extra to the college in order to balance that out.
 
“This is a fairly significant project for Lethbridge,” noted Spencer Calhoun, Stuart Olson project manager. “The college has a fairly substantial interest in the community, and we’re happy to be providing these services. This is an exciting project and we’re happy to be part of it.”
 
The entire two part project is funded through private and provincial sponsorship, and Rankin confirmed that it is on budget to-date.
 
Once completed, both phases combined will become the largest trades and technologies training facility south of Calgary, measuring out at 168,812-square feet. The first classes in the second part of the building are scheduled for August 21, 2017.