Tom MacCallum

Richmond County Daily Journal

A proposal to shift plans for a new training facility at the Richmond County Industrial Park on the U.S. 74 Bypass to renovation of the Forte Building on the campus of Richmond Community College will be presented Monday night to the board of commissioners.

Richmond County commissioners will meet beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, South Hancock Street in Rockingham.

Dr. Sharon Morrissey, RCC president, will be seeking support from commissioners for the concept of the proposal.

She will present a case for better utilization of such training space on campus.

The original estimate for an Industrial Park Training Center at the county’s industrial park was $1.8 million in 2006 dollars. The estimated cost of the new proposal is from $3.5 million to $4.2 million .

Original proposal

Once the original project was announced, RCC personnel, RCC Board of Trustees, county employees, and business and industry representatives began to study the proposal in depth.

What they discovered was that colleges with similar facilities located inside or near industrial parks were not using the buildings for industry training.

Other colleges with similar programs indicated they were providing training in traditional college facilities or on-site in individual industries being served.

LS3P Architects of Charlotte — selected for the project — confirmed the findings at RCC that building on campus was more in line with other colleges.

Charles Boney Jr. of LS3P said, “The Forte Building is solidly built, it has many of the training programs required by industry already in place, and it would benefit greatly from some remodeling.”

He said, “It has parking readily available, and visitors pass by an attractive campus on the way there. This facility, with program-related remodeling and additions, could become an asset to both industrial recruitment and the college campus.”

New proposal

The proposal is to add 10,000 of additional square footage to the present Forte Building. It would also include renovating the existing 11,000-square-foot building.

Once completed, the building would contain a hydraulic and pneumatic laboratory, electrical/electronics lab, industrial lab, general purpose classrooms, a computer-aided drafting lab, mechanical engineering lab, machine shop, welding shop, electronic lab, personal computer networking lab, other computer labs, computer integrated manufacturing lab and flexible lab with a bay.

Morrissey will talk about six main points as to why the on-campus is preferred and the need for expanded programs :

n Opportunity to strengthen industrial training programs area already in place at the Forte Building.

n High-tech, automated industries look for a trained workforce in deciding where to locate.

n Remodeling would enhance student recruitment into low-enrollment, high-demand programs such as industrial systems.

n Adding a flexible-use industrial training bay will help the county recruit new industries and provide space for customized training for workers already employed.

n Upkeep costs for the county would be less than with a stand-alone facility.

n RCC could avoid duplication of programs and resources needed at a remote location.

The effort to seek an expanded program began in 2006. In 2007 commissioners deeded 2.2 acres to RCC in the industrial park for a facility. In June, LS3P Architects was selected for the project.

After study, planning for a training center at the industrial park was tabled. In November, the RCC Board of Trustees approved a concept design plan for renovations and additions to the Forte Building.