Bouten Construction Co., of Spokane, has begun work under a $5.6 million contract to renovate and expand the former science building at Spokane Community College, says Dennis Dunham, director of capital projects for Community Colleges of Spokane.

The project bid came in about 10 percent to 15 percent below the engineer's estimate, Dunham says. Work started on the renovation late last month, he says.

The building is located just northeast of the center of the campus. SCC opened a new science building in 2006, and the old building will be used for health-related classes once the renovation project is complete.

The building will get a new roof; an upgraded heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system; new windows and doors; and electrical systems and plumbing, he says.

Round lecture halls in the former science building, which are not handicapped accessible and are functionally obsolete, are to be torn out, and new classrooms will be added, he says.

The building currently has 33,000 square feet of floor space, but will have about 36,000 square feet when the renovation is complete, Dunham says. The project is expected to be completed in late 2010, he says. Students will begin using it in January 2011.

DeNeff Deeble Barton Associates Architects & Planners, of Spokane, is the architect on the project.

The renovated building will serve multiple purposes, he says. It will house radiology technician classes, biomedical equipment repair, physical education classes, as well as the student health clinic and campus information systems, he says. It also will house eight multipurpose classrooms, he says.

The building will have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and X-ray machines to teach students in the radiology technician program, he says. The school hasn't had that equipment, and students in that program learn by using such equipment at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital, Dunham says.