ACME Building Moving Forward With Design

Tennessee Tech is moving forward with the design phase of the upcoming ACME building for its engineering program.

College of Engineering Dean Joseph Slater said the project can advance thanks to a recent approval to proceed from the State Building Commission. Slater said the university is currently working to optimize the space inside the building to maximize its value.

“Things like utility closets, hallways, those types of spaces are, you don’t really use them but you have to have them,” Slater said. “So by rearranging rooms the best way possible we can get the most space that is assigned for specific tasks and utilization.”

Slater said the configuration of the building should be finalized in the next two months. Slater said the next step from there will be to determine exactly what equipment will go in each room.

“We’re getting down to specifics of what models of equipment and what utilities do we need,” Slater said. “Do we need higher power, do we need higher current, higher voltage, do we need compressed air, those types of things.”

Slater said engineers will be designing the foundation, structure, and utility systems while the configuration work is underway. Slater said the building is currently expected to the most efficient university building in the state in terms of the usable space relative to non-assigned space.

“We’re very excited about the project and moving forward with it because the growth here at Tennessee Tech in the College of Engineering is spectacular,” Slater said. “I think I mentioned last time, our enrollment is up fourteen percent this year over just a few years ago. We expect it to up another five percent or so next year. Our research is up six hundred fifty percent over five years ago and the success here is contagious.”

Slater said the project has contingencies built into it to account for inflation moving forward. Slater said about five percent of the project’s budget is set aside specifically for unforeseen occurrences.

“Further, as you get into the building, you start to learn a little bit more about it and you can often make some further cuts to save some money to compensate it for as well,” Slater said.

Slater said the current goal is to have a groundbreaking for the building in December or January of the next school year. Slater said the building should be fully complete about three and a half years after construction begins.

“Usually about three years later you can get into the building and it takes about a half a year to really stand it up,” Slater said.