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included, and will be in full use, since
the carpentry apprentice program was
added this year to complement the
carpentry/joinery program. Apprentices
return to the classroom for four to six
weeks per year, and the College will be
running classes on a continuing basis,
bringing in a new group as each one
finishes.

Trades Director Harvey McCullough
is pleased with the improvements the
relocation brings, but he is even more
enthusiastic about announced plans for
an expansion of the auto shop.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is
that this isn’t really an expansion — we
haven’t gained classroom space, we’ve
moved from leased to college-owned
facilities,” says McCullough. “We did
get an additional carpentry class but by
the time they laid the foundations, we’d
filled it with the new apprentice
program.”

A tour of the auto shop facilities
includes the main shop, designed for 20
students and serving 72, an outdoor
facility under a large tarp, and grounds
with donated cars on them which
students work on in good weather.

“No one was happier than me when I
heard Advanced Education Minister
Peter Dueck announce funding for
trades expansion at the university
college announcement,” says
McCullough.

Along with improvements to their
office area, female Trades staff are
pleased with the relocation of the
women’s washroom to a more - |
convenient location. “We’re happy we
won’t have to go outside and through
the auto shop anymore. It was quite a
jaunt,” says program assistant Karen
Power.

Drafting’s move to the Trades Centre

has set off a departmental shuffle in
Building A. Fashion Design moved into
Drafting’s former spot, the expanded
bookstore moved into the Fashion
Design space, and Facilities will be
moving into the space vacated by the
bookstore.

Headlines/Sept.13, 1991

Chemistry instructor Lillian Martin stretches out in the newly renovated chem. lab.

In Chilliwack, chemistry instructor
Lillian Martin is “thrilled” that the lab
renovation is going ahead, but
“bothered” that it won’t be finished until
October because of a delay in the release
of Ministry funds.

“When I arrived at the college two
years ago, I was appalled that the lab
was so small for 24 students,” says
Martin.“The benches were so close
together that students were backing into
each other. If there had been a serious
accident, I wouldn’t have been able to
aid the person quickly because I would
be tripping over students on the way
there, and because of the cramped space,
there was a good likelihood of a serious
accident.”

Dealing with acids and organic
chemicals with noxious fumes means
that spills can be dangerous, but the risk
will be reduced in the new lab, which
provides for much more space between
benches. “Before there were 2.5 square
metres per student — now we’re up to
the national building code guidelines of
4.5,” says Martin, who is postponing all
the lab components of her courses until

— later in the semester.

Although the College is avoiding
sinking money into the existing
Chilliwack building because of plans to
replace it, Facilities Director Jim White
says the lab renovation went ahead

“because it is a safety issue.”

On the horizon and rising rapidly in
Chilliwack is the new $2.5 million
Health Sciences Centre. Construction
started in May but was delayed over the
summer because the only steel plant in
Western Canada closed, making steel
difficult to obtain.

The girders are now in place,
however, and the contractor is planning
to fast-track the project by doing several
stages simultaneously.

“We have 15 per cent of the materials
on-site now and are almost 15 per cent
completed,” says White.

White hopes to be able to move the
nursing, dental auxiliary, and long term
health care aide programs over from
Portage in January, although some work
may still need to be done.

Phase I of the Abbotsford campus
expansion is moving along adjacent to
Building B. Total cost of the
three-storey expansion is $8 million.

“This will be a very general purpose
building, with new classroom space, a
new lab, math and writing centres, and
lots of general student space,” says
White. “We will also be relocating
several departments there, such as
Computing Services and International

Please see page 3