News at work

Several people recently asked me why the “Future Home of IARC” sign is still up, given that this summer the IARC, the Office of Partnerships and Technology Transfer, and PIP-II headquarters personnel moved into their new offices in the state-funded Office, Technical, and Engineering (OTE) building at the Illinois Accelerator Research Center.

The short answer is simply: “Because IARC is not yet done!” While State of Illinois funding for the shell OTE Building arrived as one big check, DOE’s contributions have arrived in a number of smaller buckets known as general plant projects. These funds have allowed us to begin to finish the interior of OTE and to refurbish the former CDF Heavy Assembly Building (now known as HAB). OTE finishing, led by Rhonda Merchut from FESS, has made great progress in the past year, with all network cabling and IT routers installed on both floors; beautiful office suites installed on the third floor of OTE (the second floor remains unfinished); and new furniture installed in the 175-seat IARC lecture hall. With the new audio-visual system slated to be installed shortly, this latest IARC addition will soon be operational.

In addition, lots of construction work continues on the refurbishment of HAB, led by Steve Dixon from FESS. In an earlier phase HAB general plant project, we replaced outdated electrical switch gear, refurbished cooling water systems, installed new HVAC units and upgraded building life safety systems. We also constructed new first-floor toilets, refurbished the 50-ton crane, epoxy-coated the HAB floors, and installed new energy-efficient LED lighting over the high-bay space.

The changes are also transforming HAB into a beautiful work space. With several customers lining up to use space in HAB for both industry and high-energy-physics-based program projects, we are all looking forward to the day that sign comes down!

Work currently in progress will lead to the construction of 10 private offices, 12 cubicles, three conference rooms and new toilets on the third floor of HAB. The east end of the building will include a small addition housing the new elevator, exit stairs and a new east lobby. The south wall of the existing building will be re-clad with new siding, and windows will be added on the second and third floors. Already in place is a new loading dock ramp on the east side. These changes are all intended to repurpose HAB to comply with modern standards and codes so that it can support the IARC mission.