The state has appropriated $900,000 in planning funds for a new engineering building to be built on NIU’s campus.

“The money came out of the state revenue base,” said Eddie Williams, Vice President of Finance and Planning. The state appropriation for these types of projects comes from the Capital Development Board (CDB), he said.

“Primarily it (money) is for the development, design criteria, sighting of the project and completion of construction design drawings,” he said.

NIU will be in a position to for bid the project when the planning portion of it is completed, he said.

Sighting is one of the issues university officials are discussing at this time, he said. North and south of Anderson Hall, a central campus sight near Lincoln Terrace and Normal Road, a sight in the vicinity of the field house and one west of campus are few of the options being looked into.

“We’re in the process of reviewing applications from architects for this project,” he said.

The new building is needed because,”the engineering facility in Sycamore would not be adequate to house the full program once filled up to capacity,” he said.

During this fiscal year, NIU received planning money for the project. During FY 91 the university will file budget requests for construction money worth $20 million, a process which will take about a year. In FY 92 NIU will request money for equipment for the building.

He said it will take three years to get all the money approved and two years for construction.

“Approximately 10 or 11 firms are being considered for their design,” he said. A committee has been formed from the college of engineering, provost’s office and other university departments to make recommendations to the NIU President John La Tourette as to which design is the best.

The firms will be eliminated to four or five firms and each will give presentations. Williams said the firm will be chosen for the job based on its capabilities, size, and whether the firm has worked on similar buildings.

Williams said the project is on schedule so far. “We’re on target and working with the firm and the college of engineering has been working a lot, specifying in detail what they need to run the school,” he said.

“When engineering was envisioned on this campus (it was hoped that) at one point in time there would be a building that would be adequate for engineering,” he said.