N.C. College Resumes Construction on New Academic Building

North Carolina's Meredith College will soon resume work on a new facility to house the institution's communication and exercise and sports science programs. Construction plans had been paused in 2020 when the pandemic struck. The building will be located on the northwestern side of the school's 225-acre campus.

The 13,000-square-foot structure will include a number of common areas as well as dedicated spaces, including an "agency-style" classroom, a media studio and editing rooms, a human performance lab, an assessment lab and conference room.

Meredith College construction
Photo credit: Meredith College

Both academic programs have grown significantly in the past decade. According to the college, enrollment in Meredith's undergraduate communication program has grown by 29% and the exercise and sports science program by 52% since 2011.

Design is being handled by Design Development Architects, also Raleigh-based. The general contractor for the project is Inland Construction, with headquarters in Garner, N.C.

Work on the new building is expected to be done during the next academic year. A virtual tour is available on YouTube.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • DLR Group Hires Three for Higher Education Practice

    Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it has brought three new hires on board to help shape its higher education practice in California and the northeast, according to a press release.

  • Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The College of Western Idaho's Agricultural Sciences Complex has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of New Construction.