The Steamfitters Local 601 held a groundbreaking ceremony for their new $12.3 million Madison Training Center located at 6310 Town Center Drive, along Interstate 94 and Sprecher Road, in Madison, Wisconsin. Hunzinger Construction Company is the Construction Manager for the project designed by Potter Lawson Architects based in Madison. Rounding out the design team are KJWW Engineering Consultants of Madison consulting for HVAC, plumbing and electrical, Plan Design, LLC landscape architects and Wyser Engineering, LLC of Mt. Horeb providing the civil engineering for the project.
Steamfitters 601 Business Manager Joel Zielke said, “Our old facility worked well but we are just out of room. With the recent increase in commercial development in Madison and Milwaukee, steamfitters are in demand. The number of apprentices we have has more than quadrupled to about 115. The new facility has about five times more training space than our current facility.”
The new facility is 58,450 square feet and includes traditional classrooms as well as training areas for fabrication and welding. Steamfitters lay out, assemble, fabricate, install, troubleshoot, maintain and repair piping systems which carry water, steam, chemicals, compressed air, liquids, gases or fuel used in energy production, heating, cooling, food processing, refrigeration and air conditioning, manufacturing, lubricating and other process piping systems. The facility will house new indoor training equipment, including a 3-story rigging structure that will allow apprentices to train in a climate-controlled environment before they have to work out in the elements, Zielke continued.
“We are so thrilled to be the Construction Manager for this great new training facility. As a proud union contractor since 1907, we are honored to have been selected by the Steamfitters Local 601. We appreciate that they have put their trust in us to deliver a project that will transform their Apprenticeship Training and will have a positive impact on the skilled labor force throughout Wisconsin. We look forward to a very successful working relationship,” said Jim Hunzinger, Executive Vice President of Hunzinger Construction Company.
Work is scheduled to be completed August of 2017.
About Steamfitters Local 601
Steamfitters Local 601 is comprised of approximately 2,400 members and represents a fourteen county area in southeastern Wisconsin. While the majority is comprised of Steamfitters and Refrigeration/Service Fitters, they also represent various other classifications, such as gas distribution helpers and welders, warehouse, and non-destructive testing. Their members work on a variety of jobsites including residential and commercial heating and cooling systems, breweries, power plants, and projects.
Local 601 believes that training is the foundation on which any organization is based. The longevity of a steamfitter’s career is directly related to their ability to keep current in old and new technology, knowledge and skills. Steamfitters UA Local 601 represents the Journeymen, Apprentices and Helpers, who work in the Heating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Process Piping Industry in the Southern Wisconsin area. Steamfitters Local 601 offers a five year UA apprenticeship program for the Steamfitter Construction and HVAC Service industries.