Reconstructing North Lake

North Lake College is a work in progress.

Construction has been going on around campus for a long time and has no signs of stopping.

John Watson, the director of facilities management, has a laundry list of projects in varying stages of completion, some of which will create major changes to campus life.

“People are observing safety requirements for the jobs,” he said, and added that no accidents have been reported in connection with the construction work.

• Watson said the waterproofing project is continuing well. Most of the demolition involved in the project on F and J Buildings is complete and work is progressing smoothly. (However, the News-Register has learned that a number of recent minor leaks in J Building and K-308 have caused some concern to students and instructors.)

• P Building is the next building slated for waterproofing work followed by H and K buildings. He said that there is a possibility that the three buildings may be done at once.

• Work on the T Building on remodeling for the nursing program should pick up soon.

Out of 58 contracts, he said, the field has been narrowed to one contractor. He said that the contract would likely be approved during the December meeting of the Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees.

“We already know that the spirit of competition will keep us well under the estimated budget for the project,” Watson said. He added that work on the nursing program remodeling in T Building should, if all goes well, begin in January.

• A new system of signage for the campus is being designed.

A consulting firm, Stuffelbach Design Associates, was hired to literally “get lost” on campus. The company sent several people to North Lake’s campus to walk around in the mindset of a new student and attempt to find their way around the campus.

As a result of the evaluation, a signage system is being designed that will include adding campus maps beside both entrances to the campus, a color-coded system for labeling the buildings and clearer signs throughout campus pointing the way to not only the buildings, but to key points of interest such as admissions and the cafeteria.

• Progress is being made to solve the problem of the slope failure outside of the T Building.

Watson said that two monitoring wells have been drilled into the slope and show both soil and water movement some 20-30 feet beneath the ground.

He said that a fix is in the works for the soil movement problem that will include concrete piers at the top of the hill to help stabilize the slope.

A solution to the water movement problem has not been worked out, although he said that they know that the water is coming from under and beyond T Building toward the golf course.

• Work on the fire alarm rezoning project has begun on the C building with the installation of hardware upgrades, Watson said.

• A new system to help improve the air quality around campus is in the works, Watson said. The system will better regulate the ratio of fresh air to air recycled through the school, based on occupancy of individual rooms.

• In an effort to save energy, the air-handling system and the lighting system will both be linked to motion censors in some larger areas on campus.

When movement is detected in the room, both the lights and improved air handling system will be automatically turned on.

• Watson said that work on the terrace above the J Building is nearly complete and that it will feature another garden area similar to that on the second floor of the A Building.

•Work continues on the roadway at the Walnut Hill entrance to campus. Watson said that, weather permitting, the work shouldn’t take more than another month to complete.

• Plans are being made to replace much of the carpeting and other flooring across the campus. Further plans are being made to replace the floor in the gym and add new bleachers, he said.

Watson said that with all the work on campus, he has been getting “just fantastic cooperation,” from students and faculty. He said he wants to remind everyone to be careful around the construction areas and not to cut through fenced off areas.

“Those signs are there for a reason,” he added.