Summer Proved Productive for ICC

EAST PEORIA — Over the course of the summer, ICC had multiple construction projects that it had planned to have completed before fall classes, and as ICC Facility Services Director Kevin Roberts, recently stated, “It all went quite well.”

According to Roberts, the summer projects covered three campuses and ranged from drinking fountain upgrades to total building renovations to landscaping.

The summer began with hallways being blocked off in the East Peoria Academic Building for the purpose of installing new HVAC equipment. This project occurred in three stages, each of which required closing off a new section of hallway. This began May 20 and finished in mid-July when a helicopter was used to place three new air conditioning units on the roof. Roberts said the spaces from 314A to 319E and the rooms on floors directly below should now be more comfortable due to improved heating and air conditioning.

Another noticeable summer project at East Peoria was the excavation and landscaping that took place in front of the library. In late May, the project began with crews excavating a four foot deep trench along the front of the building. Roberts explained that this was so waterproofing could be installed to keep rainwater from affecting a recently relocated data center on the first floor.

By the time classes began on August 19, the trench was refilled, sod was laid and much of the area was covered with concrete, including the addition of two new sidewalks connecting the building and the circle drive.

Several classroom improvements also took place over the summer. Roberts stated that 80 new whiteboards were installed in 40 classrooms on the East Peoria Campus, replacing the last of the old chalkboards. Troy Hattermann, director of ICC’s facilities planning and design, stated that ICC also upgraded eight classrooms, the majority of which were in the Academic Building, with SMART technology. Additionally, Hattermann mentioned that the Mac Labs at East Peoria have all been combined into one space in AIT 255 and that AIT 122 is the newly organized TV & Photo Lab.

Lastly, eight new drinking fountains have been installed across the East Peoria Campus that allow students to get a drink either directly from the fountain or from a port that will fill a drinking container with water. In eight seconds, they can fill a water bottle with chilled, filtered water.

“I think they’ll be pretty popular,” said Roberts. “The water will taste better than [that from] the other water fountains. We’ll see how this all works out, but I think it’ll be something that the students appreciate.”