Kirkwood Community College's Jones Hall renovated

Kirkwood Community College's newly renovated Jones Hall finally brings together Industrial Technology classes under one roof.

Jones Hall grew from a 55,250 square foot building to 85,250 square feet, offering changes to individual areas of the building. Until now, masonry students had to take classes at Hawkeye Downs.

“It's great to finally have all of our students here, not only on campus, but really centrally located here. It not only helps with their learning, but helps us connect better with them too,” said Industrial Technologies Dean Phil Thomas.

“Having all of the skilled trades here in Jones Hall really helps the students network better across all of the different programs.”

The HVAC and Plumbing classes moved into Jones Hall from the Ag building. The plumbing lab, with some help from Kirkwood's Construction Management students, now has a mezzanine, wall and complete bathroom built in. That allows students to completely install pipes and make plumbing repairs.

The new welding lab has more welding booths allowing more students to work at once. Students can now weld outdoors, something the industry often demands, and now Kirkwood can meet. Students will also be able to bring larger welding projects indoors with the new space.

“In the past our building didn't have a good flow to it and students had to leave just to find a place to study. That's not the case anymore. We've even brought some of the general education classes into our facility,” added Thomas.

Jones Hall was built in 1977 and has only seen one renovation in the early 80s. This remodel started in the spring of 2008 and finished on August 1st of this year. The new addition and 30,000 feet of interior renovations were paid for by a bond revenue and the Kirkwood Bond Levy, the same one that voters just renewed Tuesday night with an overwhelming 70% yes vote.