For immediate release - July 15, 2005

New facilities director begins work for Lake County

TAVARES — Jim Bannon completed his first week on the job assessing current and future building design and construction projects as Director of the Lake County Department of Facilities Development and Management.

Previously the Director of Construction for the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach for two years, Bannon said he accepted the Lake County director position because of the challenge. Prior to his experience with the Diocese, Bannon worked for NASCAR International Speedway Corp. for three years as a member of the team coordinating the design and construction of speedway facilities in Kansas and Chicago.

“It doesn’t really matter if you are designing a racetrack or a church or a library or a judicial center, the goal in all of those is to complete the project on time, on budget and of exemplary quality,” he said. “I have done that before, and I’m confident I can do it here with these projects.”

The newly created Department of Facilities Development and Management is expected to be busy over the next several years as construction plans for Lake County include new fire stations, judicial center expansion, library branches, jail expansion and fairgrounds renovation.

“The vision is to create good quality of architecture for the County,” he said. “Good quality architecture isn’t necessarily always expensive. The idea is to create cost-efficient architecture that is award winning.”

Bannon received a diploma in architecture from The Queen’s University of Belfast and a master’s degree in construction management from the University of Ulster, both located in Northern Ireland. He is a registered architect in the United Kingdom as well as Florida and Georgia, having successfully completed the United States architecture registration examinations in 1998. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

A native of Belfast, Ireland, Bannon moved 12 years ago to the United States and became a U.S. citizen in June. He and his wife live with their two children in Ormond Beach.

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Contact information:
Christopher Patton
Communications Coordinator
Office: (352) 343-9609; Cell: (352) 455-0445
cpatton@co.lake.fl.us