After two years of design and construction were pleased to attend the open house of this new facility on August 5th. As we were visiting with board members from several of the area rural electric cooperatives, it helped us remember what a challenge this project was and how it is out of the ordinary. A few of these key project points include:
- The building was converted from an old plastics factory.
- We built a whole new second level inside part of the old plant so that offices could best use the height of the old building.
- Along with office, garage, and warehouse areas, a 24 hour 7 day per week dispatch center is housed in this structure.
- Part of the lower floor of the office area is a Tornado Safe Room. A place where people and equipment are protected from severe storms and from which the cooperative could continue to function even though the rest of the structure is completely destroyed.
- The building is supported by emergency generators.
- The renovated areas of the structure use ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling. The rest of the original structure, which is warehouse, has maintained the existing gas-fired unit heaters.
We thank the entire staff and board of directors of Eastern Iowa Light and Power for the opportunity to work with them on this project and for their willingness to work with the entire construction team. We also need to thank Tim Anderson and Dick McDonald from Point Builders and the entire construction team for their conscientious pursuit of the project.