DELTA TWP. - Building trades union members are erecting the Michigan Technical Education Center/Technical Training Center. And when the project is complete in November 2004, they'll be picking up part of the tab for disadvantaged students who want to learn there.

On Oct. 3, Iron Workers Local 340 members topped off the combined buildings, which together will add about 270,000 square-feet to the landscape off of I-496 and will cost about $43.7 million. The owner is Lansing Community College (LCC).

"We've got close to 100 workers out here, and we're happy with them, we have a really good team of people and subcontracting companies," said Devon Chester, project manager for construction manager Clark Construction. Iron workers from Assemblers, Inc. erected the 2,000 tons of structural iron over the last three months in the sprawling building.

The "M-TEC" is a 52,000 square-foot, $8.7 million facility specially designed to provide workers/students with a flexible "open-entry, open-exit" training. Employees who are undergoing training for businesses in the region can start at any time and without lengthy time commitments. Training curricula can range from team building to robotics.

M-TEC is connected via a "virtual wall," as LCC puts it, to the Technical Training Center, a $35 million facility designed to provide credit courses leading towards degree certifications in 21 programs including automotive, manufacturing, welding, and public service careers like fire, police, corrections and EMT training.

Along with the credit programs, many vocational classes for Eaton Intermediate School District will be moving to the site.

"Thousands of students will begin their career preparation or return to LCC for upgrading their skills," said LCC President Paula Cunningham. "Their futures will be better and all of us will benefit from their increased knowledge and skill."

The project is the first to be constructed in conjunction with the HOPE (Helping Other People Excel) Scholarship Program. Earlier this year, members affiliated with Lansing Area Building Trades - when they're working on jobs operating under a project labor agreement - agreed to contribute five cents per hour of their wages to the HOPE fund. More than $2 million has been raised to fund the scholarship program.

The HOPE Scholarship Program is a partnership between the Lansing Police Department, the City of Lansing, the Lansing School District and Lansing Community College. Five hundred students per year who face personal and economic obstacles - as identified by Lansing School District administrators - receive two year's free tuition at Lansing Community College provided they graduate from high school.

William Darr, dean of the LCC's Technical Careers Division, said the project is a straightforward design - with one major exception. For heating and cooling, the college opted to utilize a geothermal system, which is uncommon for a project of this size. In front of the building, contractors have dug wells up to 285 feet deep to tap into the earth's consistent 55-degree temperatures. A closed loop system will act as a heating and cooling exchanger and provide 65 percent of the building's heating and cooling capacity.

The system is expected to save the school about $150,000 per year in utility costs, allowing the more expensive system to pay for itself in 10 years. 

A GROUT PUMP feeds one of the 275 geothermal wells that are being built as part of the system to heat and cool the new Lansing Community College Technical Education Center/Technical Training Center. Local 324 operator Garrett Reed mans the pump.

A 10-INCH RAIN CONDUCTOR is installed at the LCC Technical Center by Justin Rushbrook of Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Local 333 and Smith-Hammond Mechanical Contractors.