New building welcomes visitors to CA site

With the snip of some scissors, Sandia VPs recently signaled the start of a new era on the California campus. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 15, staffers got their first look inside Bldg. 926, which serves as a new “front door” to the site.

The gleaming 19,247-square-foot facility with expansive views, reclaimed wood from a local barn, and a unique two-story glass wall at its entrance now houses Human Resources. In addition, the building offers space for training, employment candidate interviews, seating for new hires, and meetings with public visitors. MOWs and visitors can easily access the building, which is adjacent to the east side entrance and parking lot. Director of Site Operations David Gibson (8500) praised the completion of the building as “an important milestone in the development of the open campus.”

The Livermore Valley Open Campus was established on the site’s east side in 2010 with the goal of creating space for collaboration between Sandians and others working to solve national security challenges. In addition to furthering that goal, the new building also kicks the overall site development plan into gear. 

David says, “Moving HR capabilities to Bldg. 926 provides an opportunity for space to be reconfigured in support of the site’s growing classified mission work.” The space formerly occupied by HR in Bldg. 911 will now be incorporated into the limited area and used for new hires in the telemetry and joint test assembly programs.

Later phases of the site development plan include the renovation of Bldg. 912, also in the limited area, to be completed in 2018.

A number of distinguished guests attended the ribbon cutting for Bldg. 926, including VPs Marianne Walck (8000), Marianne Hill (11000), Jennifer Plummer (10000), and their teams.

Speaking at the kickoff event, Marianne reminded visitors that the construction of a facility as large and as modern as Bldg. 926 is not a simple task. Before cutting the red ribbon in the entranceway, she noted that “achieving a pleasing design while maximizing size and staying within the $10 million institutional general plant project budget was made possible only by the tireless labor of many Sandians.”

Marianne specifically called out three employees for their exceptional contributions to the project: Site Operations Senior Manager John Garcia (8510), Senior Facilities Manager Rocky Lioce (4820), and Senior Procurement and Operations Manager Krista Smith (10240).

Div. 4000 VP Michael Hazen echoed Marianne’s gratitude, saying, “We could not have reached this day without the efforts of staff in both California and New Mexico. A very special thanks to acting Facilities Manager Eva Clark (8545), a formable force for sure. Many others including Senior Facilities Manager Craig Taylor (8540) and now-retired Site Operations Director Denise Koker (8000) as well as the entire teams from Sandia Facilities, Legal, and Procurement were able to bring us to this day.”