John King
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 13/06) - The excitement is all too real for Allyson Stroeder.

With the expansion to the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre only three months from completion, Stroeder, KCTC co-ordinator, is gearing up for all the additional space, students and staff at St. Patrick high school will soon have.

"It will over double our space," Stroeder said.

By March, when construction is slated to wind down, principle contractor Ledcor construction will have added an additional 6,500 sq ft of floor space.

"We have no room right now, so the biggest thing the addition will do is add way more room," said carpentry instructor Kevin Stroeder.

There are only three carpentry tables in the shop area right now, but the expansion will double the number of tables available to students.

"We'll be able to do different projects with different classes and leave projects in the shop instead of having to put projects outside," Stroeder said.

Ledcor crews started on the building's foundation Dec. 2.

"Framework for the building is up right now," said Jean Paul Lariviere, Ledcor project superintendent. "All the civil work was done before Christmas."

By civil work, Lariviere is referring to the excavation and pouring of the concrete foundation.

Another interesting aspect of the expansion is that it's what engineers refer to as a pre-engineered steel building.

"The building snaps together like Lego, so the construction is happening quite rapidly," Stroeder said.