CCCC breaks ground for new buildings on Pittsboro campus

Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2007

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Pittsboro, NC – Armed with gold-painted shovels, leaders of Chatham County and Central Carolina Community College, joined by community members and state officials, broke ground Wednesday for two eagerly awaited buildings on the college’s Chatham Campus.

The ceremonial groundbreaking celebrated the planned construction of the 25,000-square-foot Chatham Community Library and the college’s 18,000-square-foot Sustainable Technologies Classroom and Lab Building. Construction on the buildings, designed by project architect Louis Cherry, of Cherry Huffman Associates, of Raleigh, is scheduled to start in July 2008, with completion by fall 2009.

“Today, we celebrate not only a future building, but building for the future,” said Ron Miriello, CCCC vice president for Educational and Student Support Services, who represented college President Matt Garrett at the ceremony. “The substantial investment of time and money is only matched by the forward thinking of the people of Chatham County.”

CCCC donated the land for the library and the county appropriated $7.8 million for its construction. The Friends of the Pittsboro Memorial Library have raised $330,000 for furniture, collections and other enhancements to the facility.

“This has truly been an example of collaborative effort,” said Carl Thompson Sr., chairman of the county board of commissioners and CCCC Chatham director of Continuing Education. “It shows what we can accomplish when we all join hands and work together.”

The Chatham Community Library will be a unique joint-use facility, shared by the county and college. It replaces the current 5,656-square-foot Pittsboro Library and the college’s small library. It will be the Chatham County Library System’s main library and will be operated by the system.

The new library, which is expected to serve community needs through 2025, will house children, teen and adult collections, have tutoring and study labs, and provide space for genealogy research. It will also have a large multipurpose room suitable for group meetings.

The college will contract with the county to provide library services for its students, faculty and staff. The county library system and the college will each retain ownership of their own collections, but the books will be accessible to all.

“We’re excited,” said Dr. Karen Allen, CCCC Chatham Provost. “We went for collaboration and coordination, not two separate entities under one roof. It will draw folks to the college that might not have come otherwise. For our students, it will enhance accessibility to a wide range of resources.”

CCCC’s Chatham Campus has a major focus on “green” – environmentally friendly –programs, such as sustainable agriculture, biofuels and green construction, programs not offered at the college’s other campuses. The $3.8 million county-funded Sustainable Technologies Classroom and Lab Building reflects this philosophy – even the roof will be covered with vegetative matter to add to its greenness.

The new classroom/lab building will expand the campus’ ability to offer its sustainability programs, housing biofuels processing, constructions technology, and agriculture labs, as well as a multipurpose lab, general arts instruction room, and culinary training facility.

The two buildings will be the first in the county to be constructed according to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. LEED sets standards for materials, features and construction techniques for buienvironmentally friendly and leave a small “footprint” on the environment. It awards certification depending on how many standards are incorporated. The buildings will qualify for “silver” certification, the second highest level.

“To build green sustainable buildings, places where everyone in the state can come and be proud of them, is an important step forward over just building the same-old same-old,” said Pittsboro Mayor Randolph Voller. “What we are doing here is something that’s going to ring out and be an example for other counties and regions to follow.”