The University of Colorado System stretches over thousands of acres with hundreds of buildings on four campuses. Those structures serve some 60,000 students and 4,500 faculty. CU spends millions of dollars each year to maintain and improve existing facilities and build new ones to sustain growth. Recent projects range from upgrading an outdated atmospheric chemistry lab and building new office buildings to a $96-million overhaul and "greening" of the Boulder campus utility system.
While many buildings—student housing, classrooms and offices—require relatively standard construction, many of the university's laboratories and hospitals are among the most sophisticated in the world. In keeping with the system's emphasis on innovation, most upgrades and new construction are built to sustainable, usually LEED standards, and employ construction strategies such as design-build and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC).