Northern Diesel Tech Center receives multiple awards

Editor’s note: This version clarifies that Montana Contractors’ Association presented awards to Swank Enterprises for its work as lead contractor on Montana State University-Northern’s Diesel Technology Center.

A project Montana State University-Northern worked on for more than a decade that finally came to fruition last year has been recognized for excellence in four categories by the state contractors organization.

Montana Contractors’ Association announced Monday that it awarded Swank Enterprises for Northern’s new Diesel Technology Center with awards for Best Industrial/Commercial, more than $5 million; Commercial Decorative; Technical Merit, and Judges’ Choice in its 2018 Excellence Awards competition at its annual convention in Helena.

The project started last decade while Chancellor Greg Kegel was dean of the university’s College of Technical Sciences to replace the building housing Northern’s world-renowned diesel program, which includes one of the few four-year diesel technology degrees in the country.

The general contractor on the project was Swank Enterprises with Havre’s Rock Solid Materials providing the contract work and the design by CWG Architects of Helena.

The project created a new, state-of-the-art facility to house the diesel technology program, which had shared a facility with the automotive technology program. That facility had not actually met code when it was originally constructed in 1954, and had five additions piece-mealed to it over the years.

Northern fought for funding for the building for nearly 10 years. It originally received $800,000 for a study from the 2007 Legislature, study funding that was cut by the governor. Northern found additional funding and completed the study, then attempted to obtain funding through infrastructure bills in several more legislative sessions, but the bonding bills that would have funded the project never passed.

The Legislature eventually approved spending $9.9 million for the new center and appropriated $5.9 million for the project, with Northern raising the rest of the funds on its own, including from local and Montana residents and businesses as well as national and international businesses.

Contractors broke ground on the project in May 2016 and construction was completed last year.