Training Foundation Opens Scholarship Fund

Through his long association with Bates Technical College, Jack Skanes has helped train scores of builders. To ensure that continuation, Skanes has consented to lend his name to the initial Bates Builders Fund at the college.

Money raised will be used for scholarships to students in carpentry and construction related programs who might otherwise be unable to afford the opportunities offered at Bates.

His career began in 1950 when he enrolled in the evening carpentry apprenticeship program at Bates Technical College. The classes were four hours, one night a week for four years, but Skanes stuck with it. Fifty years and hundreds of construction projects later, his hands still change the landscape of the community. As a Bates Technical College Trustee, he gives guidance to career training at the college, maintaining a keen interest in carpentry-related programs. "I believe in 'giving back,'" Skanes said.

Proceeds from the Bates Builders Fund event will support student scholarships through the Bates Foundation. The Bates Technical College Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to attracting and providing resources through community partnerships to serve the college and its students. The foundation has awarded over $100,000 in scholarships and received an estimated $1 million of in-kind donations since its establishment in 1992. For further information on the Bates Builders Fund, contact: Randy Balogh, (253) 680-7102, rbalogh@bates.ctc.edu.

Metal Structure Honored

The editors of Metal Architecture Magazine, Metal Construction News, and the Metal Construction Association awarded KSI Architecture & Planning an Honorable Mention in the 2004 MA/MCA Design Awards for The Little School Campus Renovation Project located in Bellevue, WA.

The $2.5M campus renovation project, selected from a field of 184 entries nationwide, was among the 6 finalists in the Renovation/Retrofit category. As part of a complete renovation of two- 40 year old classroom buildings at The Little School, KSI Architecture & Planning designed the new roofing configuration that provides improved natural lighting, ventilation, and energy and seismic code compliance while maintaining the character of the campus in its beautifully wooded setting.

Also named in the award are CDK Construction Services, Inc. of Duvall, WA and Architectural Sheet Metal, Inc of Tacoma, WA. Other team members include Wetherholt & Associates of Kirkland, WA, KPFF of Seattle, WA, and AER of Bellevue, WA.

The KSI team, led by William Strouse, AIA and Aso Jaff, AIA Associate, worked with The Little School for over 6 years to develop long range campus master planning, project programming, site buffer analysis and acquisition, classroom and building improvements, as well as scheduling the multi-phase project to minimize any impact on school activities.

Port Requires Certification for Equipment Operators

Beginning January 1, 2005 the Port of Seattle will require operators of construction hoisting equipment to possess certification through the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCO).

"We made the change in an effort to further the Port's goal of zero injuries and to align ourselves with changes taking place within the industry," said Ray Rawe, chief engineer for the Port of Seattle.

The new requirement will apply to everyone who operates rented, leased or company-owned, drum-actuated forklifts, boom trucks or construction cranes working on capital improvement projects at Seattle's Seaport or Sea-Tac Airport.

The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators is an independent organization incorporated to establish and administer a nationwide program for the certification of construction crane operators.

Solar Panel Training

The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), Puget Sound Energy (PSE), and the Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (PSEJATC) dedicated a photovoltaic (PV) or solar electric system on the PSEJATC's training center in Renton. The project, which is set to expand by five to ten kilowatts (kW) each year, up to 50 kW, provides an opportunity for apprentice and journeyman electricians to gain valuable, hands-on solar electricity design and installation experience as part of their training.

Recognizing the opportunity to help advance the center's solar electricity training opportunities, and provide the Pacific Northwest with more highly-qualified designers and installers, PSE agreed to fund half of the new PV installation's costs and to provide a net metering system that enables the training center to send power back into the grid when the system produces more electricity than the center is using.