Mayor Rahm Emanuel and City Colleges’ Chancellor Juan Salgado broke ground Monday on a $45 million Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Center at Richard J. Daley College, marking the start of construction of the 57,000-square foot project that will help prepare Chicagoans for the more than 20,000 jobs coming to the region in the engineering and advanced manufacturing fields over the next decade. Daley College students will learn on state of the art equipment, preparing them for the technological changes occurring in the engineering and manufacturing industries, as firms move towards creating “intelligent factories” that integrate automation into CNC machining and quality assurance.

“I’m excited that the new Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Center is being built at Richard J. Daley College as my father always believed in the vital role of education, vocational schools and the City Colleges in preparing students for careers in local industry,” said Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley. The new center will incorporate manufacturing high bay space, three classrooms, five engineering/manufacturing labs, two computer labs, and administrative space as well as a pedestrian bridge connecting the center to the existing college building that includes student collaboration spaces. “Daley College’s new facility, combined with strong links to area employers and academic links to both our high schools and four-year colleges will enable us to remove the barriers to our students’ success and create a robust and diverse pipeline of talent into engineering and advanced manufacturing careers,” said Chancellor Juan Salgado. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018, allowing students to begin to use the space in January 2019.