Question About the New Headquarters at Warwick

by Wild_Thing 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  Wild_Thing

  The JWs are known for building Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls with slave ...er I mean ... volunteer labor, but this new self sufficient headquarters seems a bit more complex.

  So who's building it? Did they hire a firm with EDUCATED engineers and architects who know what they are doing? Or are they still using Billy*, who learned how to lay tile from his Uncle Bob*?

  *Names have been changed to protect the guilty.
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  JustVisting

  Wild_Thing, according to one of the monthly broadcasts WT has indeed farmed out the crane and iron work to an outside contractor. That is not to say that all-stars from the local building committees have not been leaned on (encouraged) to sacrifice vacation time for the project. I know of brother an elder who owns a construction company (much like in the prodigal son video) who recently returned home after several years at the site for reasons unknown. I heard second-hand that the reason for his return was not encouraging to put it mildly.
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  Barrold Bonds

  From what I understand, in NY there are certain things that have to be done by outfits with the right qualifications. Sometimes WT will have to use outside labor for these things. I believe this happened when 90 Sands was built.

  As for the design, I'm guessing there was some input from outside design firms, but the majority was done in house.
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  JeffT

  The plans would have had to meet code before they could get a permit to begin construction. No matter who was doing the work, they would have had to pass inspections from the local land use and construction agency as work proceeded.
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  Wild_Thing

  Sometimes inspections mean very little. There is a Kingdom Hall in my area that was deemed unsafe 10 years after it was built. The roof was starting to collapse. Come to find out ... they used the wrong tresses. It seems like having a trained structural engineer involved in the whole process would have prevented that.
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  DesirousOfChange

  I know of two brothers from our area that are volunteering for a month at Warwick. This is not their first visit to do this. Both are construction company owners. One is a licensed electrician and the other a commercial pipefitter. They received multiple requests from Warwick to return as volunteers. Qualified volunteers are being actively recruited. It seems they are finding it difficult to staff the project.

  Doc