CLC to hold groundbreaking for Science and Engineering Building

A groundbreaking ceremony for a project to construct a 41,900-square-foot Science and Engineering Building at the Grayslake campus will be held at 4 p.m., Monday, March 30 in a tent in Parking Lot 5 on the Grayslake campus near the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts.

Speakers will include CLC President Jerry Weber, Board Chairman Amanda Howland, Illinois State Senators Terry Link and Melinda Bush and Bruce Locke, project manager, construction, at the Illinois Capital Development Board. Others attending will include the members of the CLC Board of Trustees, CLC faculty and staff and representatives from Legat Architects and Cotter Consulting.

The event is being held to celebrate beginning construction of a three-story, 41,900-square-foot state-of-the-art facility to house programs in chemistry, photonics and mechatronics. Also included in the project is renovation of existing C Wing spaces to construct two new anatomy and physiology labs with separate cadaver laboratories, new microbiology laboratories and upgraded biology laboratories. The new building is proposed to be a LEED platinum building, which is the highest rating achievable through the USGBC (United States Green Building Council). Green features of the building will include a rooftop photovoltaic array, geothermal heating and cooling, rainwater harvesting, LED lighting and a living wall. The college estimates that the building's sustainability features will result in a 58 percent savings in energy consumption over a conventionally designed building of the same size.

The project has a budget of $28.3 million, of which the State of Illinois will fund $17.5 million. Construction schedule: April 2015 to July 2016.

For more information, visit www.clcillinois.edu/aboutclc/who-we-are/master-plan/projects/glc/science.