The University of Alabama in Huntsville is set to break ground on a $59 million facility to house its College of Engineering.

The school announced Monday that the ceremony will take place in conjunction with the UA System Board of Trustees conducting its annual meeting at the school. The ceremony is set for 11:30 a.m. Friday.

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The construction project is one of the most significant in the school’s history and comes on the heels of what the school described as a “historic” appropriation of $18 million by the state legislature for the building. Recent major construction projects at UAH have been the renovation and expansion of Morton Hall, a new student services center as well as the student activities center along with residence halls.

The school said in Monday’s announcement that the 80,000 square foot facility “will feature modernized, world-class research and teaching facilities that will ensure UAH continues to meet the state’s workforce needs through recruitment and retention of the most talented faculty and students, directly impacting the prosperity of the region.”

Charles Karr, who was named interim president in November 2021 and the permanent president in September 2022, has played an integral role in the new engineering building. Karr formerly was the longtime dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Alabama. UA System Chancellor Finis St. John IV credited Karr in helping secure the funding from the state legislature.

The new facility will be located west of the existing engineering building, adjacent to the campus lake along John Wright Drive. Once completed, it will replace the Wernher von Braun Research Hall, which was built in 1964.

The groundbreaking represents the first phase of the project. A second phase, subject to approval by the trustees, would include plans to renovate the current engineering building.