Construction Equipment Guide
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Sat September 02, 2000 - Midwest Edition
Looking for a new career? Need some training? E & V Consultants and Construction Managers of Minneapolis, MN, is building a $2.1-million educational facility on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Northwest Minnesota.
The educational facility is designed to meet the needs of job training for residents of the Red Lake reservation’s community. Three shop areas offering electrical, carpentry and heavy equipment training by the state’s Northwest Area Technical College system will be included in the building. All the shops are on one end of the building, while five classrooms are on the other. The rooms include a computer classroom, an Interactive TV classroom and the other three are general purpose classrooms, said Gordy Wegner, construction field manager for E & V.
As of the first week of August, the footings for the building had been completed, back filling was being done and the plumber had started his portion of the project, Wegner said. Construction on the project began on June 14.
Exterior walls, which will consist of blocks and burnished block, was to start the second week of August. The rest of the one-story building’s construction will consist of metal studs and drywall. The end of the building that houses the shops will have a mezzanine area but it is not actually two stories, he added. The building will meet all the current fire and safety codes and it will be handicapped accessible.
The building is attractively designed and the outside blocks will have a color pattern, creating an Indian look that will make it look like a Red Lake building. The interior of the building consists of some carefully chosen colors to create patterns that fit with the Indian heritage and niches will be included in the walls so artwork can be hung.
The beginning of the project is going a little slow because of a delay with the delivery of materials, Wegner said. Burnished block and the structural steel wasn’t delivered to the project site until the end of August. But, Wegner added, “We shouldn’t have any trouble completing the project on time.” The project is scheduled for completion in February of 2000. Working with good architects, Architectural Resources of Hibbing, MN, also make the project run smoother, he said.
Frequent rains since the project began would normally slow the project but Wegner said in this project the rain hasn’t been a problem. “We’re in a good area with nice sand so we don’t have to worry about a lot of mud with all the rain we’ve had,” he said.
Subcontractors for the project are also relatively close to the project site, with the majority of them coming from the Bemidji, MN, area, which is about 90 miles south of the Red Lake Indian Reservation. One builder, the Red Lake Builders, is from the Red Lake Indian Reservation and is the site work contractor for the water and sewer work, Wegner said.
Since the project is scheduled for completion in February, which is a very cold time of year in northwest Minnesota, the landscaping and black topping probably won’t get done until next spring, Wegner said. It is possible, though, that if everything goes well, those two areas could get done this fall.
Funding of $2.1 million for the educational facility was appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature, with no matching funds required.