With the students out of class for the holiday season, dignitaries converged Tuesday on the College of New Caledonia (CNC) to get a close up look at the new technical education centre they hope will carry the school well into the future.
Operating since September, the 7,382-square-metre (75,067-square-foot) building is nearly 40 per cent larger than the old 49-year-old structure across the way - big enough to hold eight trade shops, 11 classrooms and four computer lab, space for 24 instructors and a communal student lounge.
But that's not all.
Walk into the building, and you'll be greeted by a hallway covered in panels of rotary-cut Douglas fir rising about halfway up the wall where they give way to sheets of sandblasted steel. And along the roof are skylights specially designed to reflect light in from the southern exposure.
The shops and classrooms also feature plenty of natural lighting and the faculty offices hold up a "green roof" where hearty vegetation grows as an environmentally-responsible alternative to shingles.
An onsite storm water management system, complete with ponds outside, means water can be recaptured and used to maintain the plants and grass around the building. Solar panels are also in place to heat water and there are dual flush toilets.
Construction cost $19.7 million but due to all the energy saving measures in place, it will cost 50-per-cent less to heat and cool than a building of the same size without the features. And it's meant to last 50 years.
On that note, almost all the shops hold "cable racking" as part of a plan give the centre the flexibility to bring in new programs.
CNC is seeking approval to introduce an engineering technology program and is working with Canfor Pulp to add second class power engineering program to complement the third and fourth class programs.
All the shops have radiant in-floor heating, so you're "heated from the boots up."
The welding shop holds 50 welding booths and work is underway to capture the heat for re-circulation, diffused glass is used to light up the machinist shop.
Full of large-scale and difficult-to-move boilers, the old power engineering shop remains in place with the new building wrapped around it.
And the autobody shop holds a spray booth that allows water-born technology, donated by White & Peters Ltd. and a life, donated by Chieftain Auto Parts Inc.
Even before the tour, federal and provincial politicians were enthused, saying it will go a long way to developing the skills northern B.C. employers need.
"When we allow students to study closer to home, those students will find work closer to home," said B.C. advanced education Naomi Yamamoto.
The old building is slated to demolition, in part to make up for the parking the new centre took away from the campus.
