As a Charlotte community college grows in enrollment, steel helps the campus quickly catch up. Building a Community BY TRINA AGNELLO, PE Rodgers Builders CENTRAL PIEDMONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE in Charlotte is one of the larg-est and fastest-growing community colleges in the Southeast. As the school’s population continues to grow, updates to buildings on campus have followed suit, with several renova-tions and new buildings on the horizon. Central Piedmont’s investment in new infrastructure is part of its mission to provide exceptional education and globally competitive training in an engaging, supportive envi-ronment, and the new North Classroom Building is one of the largest buildings ever constructed on campus, bringing a variety of new offerings to the college. Stewart, an interdisciplinary design, engineering, and planning firm with a prominent office in Char-lotte, has fingerprints on many projects on the growing Central Campus as well as Central Piedmont’s other campuses across Charlotte, and the firm’s structural engineering team played an integral role in the steel-framed North Classroom Building. Trina Agnello ( tagnello @stewartinc.com ) is a project manager, structural engineering, with Stewart. Foundation for the Future The North Classroom Building is an expansive project that will provide enhanced learning opportunities for both students and faculty. The building is home to a new 200-seat auditorium, 51 classrooms, and six biology and chemistry labs, as well as 55 offices, including new office space for the dean of the college. Standing six stories and encompass-ing 150,000 sq. ft (including a basement level) the new space is centrally located on the campus quad and replaces a three-story classroom building. 40 | AUGUST 2020