Out with the old

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman David Bernal Del Agua
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  How many people have wanted to take a sledgehammer to the walls of the building they work in?

Jerry Lucas had the chance to see the building he worked at for many years start to come down to make room for a new development.

Lucas is a 22nd Logistics Readiness Squadron individual protective equipment supervisor. He started his Air Force career as an enlisted Airman in Bldg. 1090 before joining the Kansas Air National Guard and retiring as a senior master sergeant.

Now, he works at McConnell as a civilian.

"The changes in the building weren't very much," said Lucas. "It's still an old musty building. I got here in '78 and they wanted to tear it down then."

The building was a warehouse that used a tremendous amount of energy, but roof leaks as well as termites made it unsafe and demolition was deemed necessary.

"It was leaking so much that it wasn't worth the money to bring back up to code," said Lucas.

It would have cost too much to renovate the building. It was decided that constructing new facilities would provide better working conditions for Airmen.

"We were awarded the project in July of 2012, and this is the last hurdle to get through," said John Schwartzbeck, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers resident engineer. "The contract is supposed to finish in February of 2016. Hopefully we'll get the demolition done before then."

The demolition is part of a bigger project carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"We renovated [Buildings] 1220, 1128 and 1169 to move [the Airmen working in there] out of 1090," said Schwartzbeck. "The whole goal was to vacate 1090. The demolition is the last domino to fall in this contract."

The new space created by the demolition will be used by the 22nd Civil Engineer Squadron to construct facilities for future use.