BELLINGHAM - Bellingham Technical College's campus is one giant construction zone, with chain-link fences, trucks, rocks, debris and hard-hat-wearing crews all over the place.

But by this time next year, all of that should be gone, and in its place will be a modernized center of campus.

The school is in the midst of building a new campus center and expanding a couple other buildings in an effort to keep up with rising enrollment and end the use of four aging campus buildings that aren't suitable for current programs.

The $27 million project started in May 2010; construction is expected to be complete by the end of February. The campus center is connected to the existing Building G, which currently houses the campus culinary program, the cafeteria and dining services.

The three-story campus center building is starting to look complete - brick walls have been put up on the first floor, polished concrete floors have been installed, 14 classrooms are framed out and skylights have been installed.

Over the course of a day, an average of 50 to 60 people work on the site, estimated project superintendent Mark Passe, with Bellingham-based Exxel Pacific, the project general contractor. Whatcom County-based Mills Electric Co. and Diamond B Constructors also are lead companies on the project.

Even though it's not complete, people walking through the building tend to notice two things: the amount of natural light and the amount of open space for students to work in small groups, both of which college officials really wanted in the new building.

Currently students on campus, especially those with programs in the old one-story buildings, don't have access to much space for collaborative group work, said Eve Magyar, the college's capital projects manager. The new building has wide hallways and alcoves that will feature tables and chairs for students to work or study at.

To provide light, the top two floors of the north and south walls will be entirely windows, and large banks of windows will cover the west wall in the upper floors. Skylights are being used to help light the top floor and also will provide natural light to the second floor through skylight wells, which are kind of like elevator shafts with windows.

The building is expected to qualify for LEED silver rating, although it may even qualify for a gold rating, Magyar said.

When done, the new building will be about 72,000 square feet and will house a few of the college's programs: culinary arts, computer networking, and business and computer information systems. By having more space and upgraded technology and mechanical systems, the college should be able to accept more students in the programs.

Some of the new building features include:

• Two kitchens - one for the campus dining services, one for the culinary program and one for Café Culinare, the culinary program's restaurant. The programs have been sharing the same kitchen until now. There will be three kitchens total between the campus center and the building housing the cafeteria; the buildings are attached.

• Café Culinaire will be on the first floor and will have open-air seating available. The restaurant will have an exposed kitchen, which will feature an oven donated by Woodstone, allowing patrons to watch culinary students work on their meals.

• Solar panels and plants growing on the roof.

• A new library, which will be about 14,800 square feet on the top floor. The new library will be almost three times larger than the current library when complete.

• An assembly area, like an auditorium, will take up much of the first floor and will feature a stage. The space is about 5,560 square feet and features a dividing wall that can section off two classrooms that measure 1,715 square feet when combined.

• 22-foot ceilings on the first and third floors.

As part of the campus center project, the college is also expanding the central services building and the Desmond McArdle Center to accommodate programs and offices that continue to be displaced by the project. About 1,600 square feet is being added to the central services building for offices and about 5,800 square feet is being added to DMC for labs, classrooms and offices. Those areas are under construction, with work being done by Tiger Construction, and should be complete by the end of the year.

In all, four buildings will be demolished as part of the project. Building I has already been removed. Buildings D, E, and F, which are along Lindbergh Avenue, also will be removed, and the space left will be turned into a courtyard or outdoor gathering space.

Most of the money for the campus center project is from the state. About 4,000 square feet will be funded by other sources: the bookstore going into the first floor must fund its own space under state law, and the student center on the top floor will be paid for with fees that were approved by students several years ago.

This story was corrected July 6. The timeline for completion of the surge space was incorrect. The work construction companies are doing, and which buildings kitchens are located in, was unclear.