The joke among faculty and administrators participating in the planning process for a new science and engineering building on our campus is that they're laying the groundwork for construction their grandchildren will be lucky to see.

That's because, while the need is great for a new facility of that nature on our campus, it's a wildly ambitious project. Size: about 250,000 square feet. Cost: $80 to $100 million. Timeline: 10-20 years.

But you have to start somewhere.

"Throughout the Tennessee Board of Regents system, science buildings have become gray," says Glenn Binkley, assistant director of Facilities and Business Services. "Science buildings across the state date back to the 1960s. Foster Hall is one of our oldest buildings without substantial changes, as renovation costs for science buildings are extremely high. Consequently, the building has continued to operate for the most part under its original design. There's been no substantial work on TBR science buildings in 40 years, with the exception of Austin Peay."

Our master plan, which projects facilities needs as far as 20 years in the future, identified our greatest needs as a new building to house the School of Nursing and a science and engineering building. Since the Nursing project is well underway, it's time to start planning for the next item on the building list.

The science and engineering building is intended to house four areas with similar needs: Biology, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and the Water Resources Center. What all four have in common is the need for facilities with proper ventilation and chemical handling spaces: fume hoods, negative air pressure rooms, furniture and floors that are spill resistant, and proper chemical and lab set-up spaces.

"On our campus, since we have such a strong emphasis on engineering, nursing and pre-professional health programs, we have to have strong science programs as the backbone for these curricula," says Binkley. "The common denominator among those four areas is their need for wet labs and proper ventilation. It makes sense to have all four areas together to share resources."

Since early March, faculty and administrators have been working with the Atlanta office of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, an architectural firm with offices across the country, to plan the building's programming and space requirements. While HOK's final recommendations aren't due until June 1, it's already obvious that the new building, along with its own power plant, will be our biggest — and most expensive — yet.

"Our three largest facilities are the Volpe Library, Eblen Center and Prescott Hall," says Binkley. "This building, if built as one facility, will be the size of any two of those put together."

HOK will also recommend the building's location. Our master plan gives it one of two spots. The first possibility is on the Main Quad, which would require the elimination of Bartoo Hall and the Health and Physical Education Building before construction can start. The second possibility is across Peachtree, requiring the eventual removal of Lewis Hall, the foundry and the old maintenance building, although not at the outset of the project. With that decision comes a huge ripple effect, of course, as displaced programs find new homes on campus. And it won't be as easy as simply moving them into the former homes of Biology, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and the Water Center. For one thing, Foster, according to the master plan, will be razed.

This week, faculty are turning in reports outlining what they'll need to equip the new space — the classrooms, labs, an auditorium, offices. Given the long time frame on this project, it's doubtful that much, if any, of their current equipment will carry over to the new facility. HOK will be back on campus in mid-April for more discussion, and its final recommendations are due June 1.

After that? The university plans to submit the project in our capital budget plan to the TBR this summer. It's likely that the board won't add any projects to its capital list this year, given the number of projects that have languished there for so long. Once the proposed building makes the list, it's up to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to blend the TBR and UT capital needs lists — and then it's on to the governor for approval and the General Assembly for funding.

Binkley is optimistic that the building could be approved and funding initiated as soon as 10 years from now.

"In the 1980s, the state went through the process of building new libraries on campuses, and we were the first," he says. "We see science buildings as the system's next wave of construction."