An architectural rendering of the new maintenance building.
With a commitment of $4 million from the Governor’s office, the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA) moved closer to commencing construction of a new 25,000-square-foot Maintenance Support Facility at Sanford Lab. The building will provide shop space for maintenance activities, a new warehouse and offices and meeting spaces.
“We are very grateful to Gov. Daugaard and the State of South Dakota for their continuing support of Sanford Lab and the important work that is being done here,” said Mike Headley, SDSTA executive director.
The new facility, is being designed by Williams and Associates of Spearfish, will replace three existing structures at the Yates surface complex: the Machine Shop, Motor Shop and Iron House, all of which were used during Homestake mining days. The removal of the structures is expected to begin in spring of 2019.
“Before we begin removal, we will document the structures through photography. Our goal is to facilitate the reuse of existing building materials, including the large timber beams in the machine shop” said Mike Headley, SDSTA executive director.
Sanford Lab has received approval for the Maintenance Support Facility construction plans from the Lead Historic Preservation Committee and the State Historic Preservation Office.
For several years, the machine shop has been used for cold storage and contains a large portion of the core drilled by Homestake. Sanford Lab plans to move the core archive to another building on site.
Sanford Lab explored the possibility of rehabilitating the existing structures, but a closer look revealed the buildings did not meet the functional requirements for the future needs of facility operations. The new building will be much taller—30 feet on one side with a crane hook height of 16 feet. At 25,000 square feet, the new building will be slightly smaller than the existing buildings, but it will also free up yard space creating room for a loading dock and allow delivery traffic to bypass residential neighborhoods.
The new building will also offer a centralized location for the maintenance crews and their tools.
“Since the re-opening of the facility, the maintenance groups have been located in various buildings throughout the site,” said Tim Baumgartner, director of operations. “The maintenance crews will have a training area, computer work stations, and a break room in a new consolidated facility. We look forward to the new building and the increased safety and communications that will result from this effort.”
Sanford Lab expects to begin the bidding process for a construction manager for the project in early 2019.
“We’re excited to start this project and continue Sanford Lab’s transformation into a world-class research facility,” said Pam Hamilton, project manager.
