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The construction bid deadline for a $245 million health and science building at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has been pushed back another month, but officials said it won’t hinder the college’s construction schedule.

UW-Eau Claire is proposing to raze its current science hall and build the Science and Health Sciences Building, a five-story, 330,000-square-foot learning center for multiple science and technology programs. After allocating more than $340 million in the last state budget, this is the largest project of its kind for the state.

The project is expected to break ground in July 2024 and is scheduled to open in fall of 2026.

However, bidding for the project, first posted with a March deadline, will end in April instead; the state submitted new bids for a general prime contractor by April 18 and mechanical, engineering and plumbing bids by April 4.

The Wisconsin Department of Administration and Department of Facilities Development decided to push bidding back to give the state and contractors more time to look at the large set of plans, an official from the administration department said. The extended bids aren’t expected to alter the construction timeline.

Funding for the second phase of construction comes from both the 2023-25 state budget and private donations. The UW Board of Regents approved upgrading the lower-campus chiller plant, which is needed for air cooling in the science building.

Madison-based Potter Lawson and Chicago-based HOK had a hand in designing the new building and preparing a feasibility study.

A contractor will raze Phillips Hall, the school’s current science facility, and redevelop part of it into an expanded parking lot and green space, university officials said. In 2022, the university knocked down both the Katharine Thomas and Putnam halls to make way for the science building.

The new building will be home to multiple university programs, including biology, computer science and geology. The project includes mechanical equipment spaces on top of the building and a planetarium on the ground floor.