Campus Engineering Center set to be complete in 2025

The new campus Engineering Center, which began construction in summer 2023, is set to be completed in the first half of 2025.

The center will expand, adding 35,500 square feet of space across two new floors, renovate and ultimately replace the original Bechtel Engineering Center built in 1980. When the project was approved in September 2022, the UC Board of Regents estimated a total size of 82,700 square feet.

The construction aims to improve the facility’s seismic rating, maintenance needs and enrollment capacity.

The Engineering Center project addresses enrollment-induced demands on existing space, by providing more and improved collaboration and student space to support academic success and community,

campus spokesperson Kyle Gibson wrote in an email.

The completed building is set to have four floors of student space, including the Kresge Engineering Library, a student work gallery, and spaces for studying, gathering, meetings and collaboration.

The center will also feature outdoor spaces, including courtyards, an event patio, three terraces and a large main plaza.

More than 75% of the new building will be spaces that facilitate student collaboration and informal interaction,

Gibson said in the email.

Not only are these spaces in high demand on campus, but they are also a fundamental component of the out-of-classroom student experience.

The Bechtel Engineering Center was originally classified as a critical renovation and expansion project to further student experience by a 2020 master planning study conducted by the College of Engineering, according to Gibson.

Renovations to the Bechtel Center were officially approved for construction by the regents in September 2022, with former UC Berkeley chancellor Carol Christ citing deferred maintenance and seismic construction concerns.

The construction will upgrade mechanical systems, replace exterior waterproofing, repair facades, address architectural barriers and improve seismic performance, according to Gibson.

UC Berkeley Capital Strategies is managing the project, Gibson said, with structural engineering from Skidmore, Owens & Merrill, contracting from XL Construction and landscape design from PGAdesign.

According to Berkeley Inspire, funding includes a $30 million grant from an anonymous alum. The project was approved in 2022 by the regents, with an estimated cost of $92.35 million, including $77 million in gift funding and $18 million in standby financing.

According to Gibson, The Engineering Center will include organizations, programs and activities centering around advising, counseling, career development, equity and inclusion, research, entrepreneurial skills, international programs, academic programs, graduate student services and K-12 outreach.

The Engineering Center is among several ongoing construction projects on campus, in addition to upcoming Moffitt Library renovations which will begin at the end of the fall 2024 semester.

Engineering students have expressed that they want more and improved places to gather and collaborate,

Gibson wrote in the email.

The College of Engineering is investing in renovating and expanding the Bechtel Engineering Center to create just that.