As the 125-foot high-reach excavator tears down chunks of Barry Hall on the west side of campus, the University of Texas Board of Regents added the planned Interdisciplinary Research Facility to UTEP’s Capital Improvement Plan during the board’s regular meeting Aug. 20, 2015, in Austin, Texas. The new building will be erected on 2.1 acres that used to belong to Barry Hall, which should be demolished by the end of September, and Burges Hall, which recently was torn down. University officials will begin its search for the project architect and engineer immediately and expect the process to last about three months. The design should take about a year and officials expect to break ground in early 2017.
