Shop Walls are Here

A grey Monday morning doesn't usually get people excited, especially during exam week, but I was pretty excited when I arrived at work this morning and saw the convoy of transports waiting to drop off all of the materials for the wall system for our new trades wing. This is a pre-engineered system that is expected to be assembled over the course of this week.

Raising the Roof

The crew has been assembling the trusses into roof units, on the ground, inside the frame of the building, for the last week. Today the crane pulled up at about 11:00 a.m. and work started not long after to put the sections in place. The building started to take on its final shape by afternoon. They're going to have to keep up a brisk pace to get it all in place before the heavy snowstorm predicted for the weekend snows them in.

Trusses have been delivered

Signs of the next stage of construction are evident this week. Truckloads of rafters for the main campus building roof have been arriving over the past few days. The plan is to construct roof sections on the ground, and then bring in a crane to install them. If the weather holds out, the plan is to have the roof shingled by the beginning of the new year.

Student Commons Framed

The spring-like weather we've had lately has been kind to the framers. The outline of the student commons -- home to the cafeteria, lounge, fitness room, and library -- has emerged. Internal walls are going up in the academic wing, and the foundation is almost complete in the trades wing.

Building Takes Shape

I was out this morning looking at the framing, thinking that the library has a lovely bank of windows. and that my office will be rather close to the activity on the new building pad. That's how easy it is to visualize the new campus now that the framing of the walls is so advanced.

The shop wing is not as far along, as they are still doing prep work on the foundation. But the walls will go up quickly once that is done, because they are a pre-engineered system rather than a wood frame construction design.

Walls start to go up

November 2nd marked a new stage in construction -- the team started to frame the walls for the academic wing.
On the 3rd, serious work on forms for the trades wing started, under a beautifully clear sky.

Slab poured in academic wing

On the weekend, while everyone else was busy trick or treating, the construction team was busy pouring the slab in the east end of the academic wing of the new building. Today they are prepping the west end and the service room for pouring soon.