Change house is part of effort to create ‘better environment' at Noranda

MARSTON, Mo. -- Change has never been easier at Noranda.

A grand opening for Noranda's new $4 million change house was Friday morning at the facility, the latest structure to go up at the aluminium company's New Madrid, Mo., plant at the St. Jude Industrial Park just outside of Marston.

In his welcoming remarks, plant manager Frank Davis noted the facility was completed "on budget, on time" by the Robinson Construction Co. of Perryville, Mo.

With his office being located just west of the change house, Davis said he "watched it go up on a day-to-day basis."

Layle K. "Kip" Smith, Noranda's president and chief executive officer, said Friday was "a wonderful day for us as a company."

The change house will provide "a better environment for the people who work here," Smith said.

While it is "hard to judge the rate of return on a project like this," Davis said he agreed the change house will be a welcome amenity for employees.

The 20,000-square-foot building features locker rooms and shower and restroom facilities for all of Noranda's employees at the New Madrid plant.

"It is fully operational," said Mark Christian, who does communications for Noranda. "It's quite the facility."

Hot water for the change house's 49 showers is supplied by a bank of 14 instantaneous water heaters. Each of the showers is equipped with a 500 milliliter body wash/shampoo dispenser.

The change house has three separate HVAC units, two of which are designed to evacuate the hot, moist air from the showers.

The 22.5-foot-high exterior concrete walls are 11.5 inches thick with three inches of insulation cast in the middle of each panel, according to a news release by Christian.

An employee contest is being held to come up with mural ideas for the outside of the building's 200-foot-long western wall, according to Davis.

The facility is currently equipped with 1,945 lockers, each already equipped with a padlock. The facility is designed to eventually accommodate 2,916 lockers.

The change house was developed so that every employee at the plant will be able to have one full-sized locker for their work clothes and safety gear as well as a halfsized locker to store their street clothes and a locker to store clean uniforms in, Christian explained.

The New Madrid Noranda facility currently employs more than 940 full-time employees with a total of 44 acres under building roofs.

Noranda has invested about $376 million in its New Madrid smelter over the last decade and is currently putting another $38 million in to boost metal production by 35 million pounds, according to Christian.

The New Madrid plant is Noranda's biggest facility, Christian said.

Pertinent address:

Marston, Mo.