NC Dept of Environmental Quality Breaks Ground on Lab Renovation, Expansion Project

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality broke ground on its Reedy Creek Lab Campus renovation and expansion project on February 18. The project is expected to add new laboratory and public meeting space availability. Image: North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has broken ground on its Reedy Creek Lab Campus renovation and expansion project, a project that is expected to add new laboratory and public meeting space availability. 

The campus, located in Raleigh, is currently home to labs from DEQ’s divisions of Air Quality and Water Resources. The expanded campus will include new facilities for these labs, as well as housing the Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service and the Raleigh Regional Office for all divisions. Construction of the facility is expected to begin in March 2025 and end in late 2027.

“DEQ works to safeguard our air, land and water to protect the health and prosperity of all North Carolinians,” says DEQ secretary Reid Wilson. “This new state-of-the-art campus will help us continue to serve the people as we build a stronger and healthier North Carolina.” 

The new campus is expected to be Green Globes certified, meaning it demonstrates significant achievement in resource efficiency, reduces environmental impacts and improves occupant wellness.

“Through three years of design and development work on this project, our goal was to put DEQ’s mission on display through site and building design,” says Eric Turon, director of DEQ’s Division of Facilities, Health and Safety. “We wanted to design and build a campus that will support, recruit and retain the next generations of DEQ’s staff.”

The new, 33,000 sf building and 50,000 sf of lab renovations will feature a new hearing room for public meetings, which is expected to be completed in the first phase, estimated as fall 2026. The campus will feature energy-efficient walls and windows, a depolluting roofing system, high-efficiency HVAC systems, sustainable building materials and photovoltaic arrays that will provide 33 percent of the electricity needed by the office building.

Partners in this project include HH Architecture, Dewberry Engineering, Integrated Design, Storr Office Environments, McAdams Engineering, and Skanska USA.