Kwame Building Group of St. Louis has completed work as the construction manager and owner’s representative on St. Louis Community College’s William J. Harrison Northside Education Center.

The 31,000-sq-ft education center in north St. Louis City recently opened for classes. KAI of St. Louis was the architect.

The Harrison Center, the first green public higher education facility of its kind in St. Louis, is seeking LEED Gold certification. The center’s energy efficient heating and cooling system includes heat pumps in offices and classrooms for individual comfort.

Other green features include controllable lighting, the use of recycled materials, low VOC paint and non-toxic building materials and furnishings.

The facility includes an art studio, science and computer labs, five classrooms, multi-purpose community room, bookstore, commons area, outreach center and administrative offices.

The Harrison Center is the second recent project in which St. Louis Community College and KWAME have teamed to collaborate on a sustainable building project that will pursue LEED certification.