Columbia Construction Co. has been awarded a new construction project on the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) campus in North Adams – the first major construction project undertaken on campus in 40 years.

North Reading’s Columbia Construction will be providing overall construction management services for both the preconstruction and construction management phases of MCLA’s new Center for Science and Innovation; a 67,000 square foot, three-story academic facility with a total project cost of $40 million being designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP) and funded and supervised by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM).

In addition to labs and office space, the building will have a rooftop classroom and greenhouse, a two story atrium that can accommodate up to 100 people, and informal learning spaces with a 72-seat tiered lecture hall. The new facility will allow for more interdisciplinary instruction and house the chemistry, biology, environmental science, psychology and physics departments along with the college’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Pipeline and Berkshire Environmental Resources Center (BERC), according to a statement.

The project is targeting a Silver rating within the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system. In addition, the project team is using Building Information Modeling (BIM), with the building being designed in Revit by EYP together with each of the consultants, plus Columbia Construction will employ NavisWorks for shop drawings and MEP coordination.

The groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for Oct. 14. Construction is expected to be complete by 2013.