The Auto Trades Building at Salt Lake Community College, Taylorsville Redwood Campus, is undergoing demolition. The Auto Trades building will be replaced by a new administration and facilities building.
Although it is hard to tell that any demolition is taking place, it is happening inside. The only sign of demolition taking place at this time is the fence around the building and some strategically placed dumpsters.
“I didn’t know the building was coming down. I just noticed that the fence has been put up around it. Because it wasn’t here at the beginning of the semester,” student Gabriel Brown said.
Most students are not even aware that the Auto Trades Building is undergoing demolition. The demolition will not affect the faculty and students much at all. The south parking lot behind the Auto Trades Building will be fenced off so it can be used as a staging area during demolition. The sidewalk in that area will be closed also. Additionally, there will be revisions to the parking lot lights. This is due to the way they are connected to the wiring in the Auto Trades Building.
“The demolition should go pretty quick. By mid-December the building should be down,” project manager Frank Baker said
There are state crews removing all of the hazardous materials from inside the building. After that, the building will be made safe for demolition by disconnecting all utility lines and making sure they are all properly shut off.
About 75 percent of the buildings components will be recycled and used again. For example, the rebar in the concrete will be separated from the concrete, cleaned and reused. So will other components such as lighting fixtures and other building materials.
Big D Construction is in charge of the demolition.
“The demolition will take 6 to 8 weeks. We will try to minimize the parking inconvenience. But the most important aspect of the job is safety for the public,” Big D Project Manager Mark Glauser said.
The demolition process has many steps. First, the building is made safe with all utility lines disconnected and properly shut off. Then all building components are removed. After that, the outer walls come down. The site is then cleaned of all debris and the site is brought up to ground level, then stabilized.
The new administration and facilities building planned for the demolished site is still in the planning and design stages. The art classes and labs that were held in the Auto Trades Building have been moved to South City Campus.