In response to a growing need for improved engineering facilities, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is constructing a new, 57,500 sf Engineering Innovation Building (EIB). In 2017, Cotter joined the Berglund Construction team to provide construction management for the modular design building.

The stand-alone building replaces a portion of the oversized parking lot on UIC’s East Campus and will house three of UIC’s Engineering departments including the Department of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical, and Industrial Engineering, and Civil and Materials Engineering.

The building will provide space for a high-bay structural testing lab, computational labs, research laboratories, and offices. The EIB will feature an engineered strong floor and strong wall in the high-bay structural testing lab. This will provide the Civil and Materials Engineering Department with large-scale structural model testing capabilities, allowing the department to test multiple hazards simultaneously.