The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) has broken ground on its new Centre for Applied Technologies. Estimated at $294-million, this is the largest capital project ever undertaken by the school.

The five-storey, 555,388-square-foot building, located at NAIT’s main campus in Edmonton, will house classrooms, simulation labs, student common areas and a 135-seat lecture theatre. It is being built to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements and will be the first building at NAIT to receive this certification.

Construction is expected to take three years and is scheduled to be finished in time for the 2016-17 academic year. Upon completion, the Centre will enable NAIT to increase enrollment by 50 per cent in the school’s health, business, engineering technologies, sustainable building and environmental management programs.