The Lake Michigan College Board of Trustees approved a $1.3 million plan to renovate the Bertrand Crossing campus science labs and to construct additional general classrooms from existing space.

This month, the board authorized the college to hire Progressive Architects and Engineers, Grand Rapids, at a cost of $54,200 to proceed with design development, preparation of construction documents and obtaining construction bids for the project.

Plans call for the creation of two new science labs in the area recently made available by the relocation of advanced manufacturing equipment and programming to Brandywine Community Schools. The labs will reflect the new classroom design and technology recently completed at the college’s Napier Avenue campus, including collaborative learning stations and teaching stations that will use 3D presentation technology. The project will also add two flexible classroom spaces.

According to Robert Harrison, LMC’s president, one factor driving the need for the renovation is the number of students taking health care classes.

“More than one-third of the students at the Bertrand Crossing campus are health science majors, and the science labs are central to their educational experience,” Harrison said, noting he is not surprised by the number of health education students at the Bertrand Crossing campus in Niles.

“The reputation of excellence we have, along with our status of being the only nationally accredited associate degree nursing program in the southwest Michigan region, makes us the place students are turning to for a first-rate education,” he said.

The college expects that the new classrooms and labs will be ready for the fall 2013 semester.