NEW TRAINING FACILITY

Eugene Silberstein 3

The HVAC/R and MECHATRONICS programs at Suffolk County Community College's Grant (Western) Campus will have a new home in the Fall of 2009.

The blueprints are drawn, the bids are in and we are getting ready to break ground on the new WORKFORCE DEFELOPMENT TRAINING FACILITY.

This building will be approximately 17,500 square feet and will be the new home for the HVAC/R program at the college.

Here are some of the neat features of the building:

The MER for the building is located in the center of the building, has numerous windows and is a focal point when entering the building. This sets the scene for what is being taught in the building, as the mechanicals are in-your-face from the moment you enter.

The MER is oversized to allow for student observations/lectures to take place right in the room.

To the right of the lobby is a 200+ square foot area that will house the artifcats that were previously on display in Dan's heating museum in Bethpage. For quite a while now, these items were stored on the college campus and will now, finally, once again be on display.

There are minimal ceiling tiles in the building so that all of the "goodies" that are normally hidden are in plain view.

There are four labs in the building: CONTROLS, HEATING, CONTROLS and LARGE EQUIPMENT. Each of these labs is larger than the present lab at the college.

The building was designed to obtain LEED certification.

I will keep you all posted as the project progresses.