The KCTCS System Office is undergoing its 2^nd extensive renovation. 

The east side of the building is being opened up, to accommodate 12,000 square feet of additional office space, and a new bank of floor-to-ceiling windows.  

When complete in early October, the new space will offer expanded work areas,  new conference and meeting rooms, a new employee break room, and vastly improved natural lighting.

 You can keep track of daily progress and all major Construction Junction milestones by visiting this website regularly.

And e-mail all your System Office Phase 2 Renovation questions to:

Bruce.bailey@kctcs.edu

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BAD VIBES

With nearly a million dollars’ worth of sensitive computer equipment in the system office’s Server Room, any threat of sustained vibration is worrisome. 

That’s why systems administrator Aaron Welch jumped (gingerly) into action when he saw contractors unloading jack hammers as Phase II renovation work was about to begin in March.

In an email to project manager Bruce Bailey, Welch wondered exactly where the jack hammers were to be used, and wrote, “We run the risk of corrupting 2 terabytes worth of storage if vibrations from hammering carry thru the (concrete) slab…The occasional wallop probably won’t be a big deal but if you can feel the jack hammering at all in there, we’re already in trouble.”

Bailey confirmed that the jack hammers were intended to be used throughout the renovation process, starting with excavating water pipes only a few dozen feet from the server room.

Bailey said, “Aaron and others in Systems Support pretty quickly told me jack hammers were not going to be okay to use, no matter what our plans were.”

That’s just one of the dozens of challenges Bailey says he and his crew have faced since planning and starting Phase II renovations.

“It’s calling for all kinds of innovation,” Bailey said, to get extensive renovation under way without seriously disrupting the work that goes on in the System Office each day, and without compromising the equipment it takes to make all that work possible.

“We pretty quickly decided we could use heavy-duty power saws to cut through the concrete flooring,” Bailey said. “That really cut down on noise and vibrations; and it didn’t cost as much to do it that way, which was a good thing too.”

And a relieved Welch said that’s something he could shake on.

Live web cam image of the Construction Junction Zone

Page last updated Thu Jun 7, 2007 11:31 AM by Philip Brashear