Fenton, MO -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/06/2015 -- The Cochran Engineering Firm, one of the nation's leading engineering companies, began design work for the upcoming renovation of East Central College's recently acquired Gala Center. Built in 2007, the Cochran-designed, 20,000-square-foot building was previously used as an events center and will host classroom and lab space for East Central College career and technical classes after the renovations are complete.

Cochran has a long history of highly successful work with East Central College, including the design of site improvements for the Buescher Hall facility, inspection and testing of the College's Nursing, Health and Science building, and design of Audrey Lane road improvements. Cochran was awarded the new Gala Center renovation design contract on May 11 by the East Central College Board of Trustees, with College President Dr. Jon Bauer describing the firm as "uniquely qualified" for the job.

"With 17 E.C.C graduates of our own here at Cochran and so many successful partnerships over the years, it is always a pleasure to go to work for East Central College," Cochran Director of Business Development and Marketing Sally Bartnett said, "We're happy to announce that design for the Gala Center renovation has begun and is going very well. We're looking forward to assisting with the addition of this important new asset to East Central College's roster of facilities."

With over 25 career and technical programs on offer and approximately 4,500 enrolled in an average semester, East Central College is an important educational resource for people throughout the greater St. Louis area. Students at the College's five campuses pursue everything from career-oriented certificates that give them a valuable boost into the workforce to highly affordable, two-year Associate's degrees that prepare them to continue their studies at four-year colleges and universities.

As one of the region's leading civil engineering, architecture, inspection, testing, and survey firms, Cochran has been a regular partner of East Central College for many years. Cochran's deep roots in the area have endowed it with organization-wide knowledge that informs its design and other services in important, rewarding ways, something that cannot be said of competing firms from elsewhere. Coupled with the uniformly high quality of the company's many service offerings, this has made Cochran a key contributor to the growth and expansion of East Central College over the years.

The upcoming Gala Center will continue this significant history of cooperation in another momentous way. The renovated Gala Center, thanks to Cochran's just-commenced design efforts and the work of others to follow, will allow East Central College to serve even more students with state-of-the-art lab and classroom space. After the conclusion of Cochran's design phase of the project, bids for the indicated renovation work will be solicited in the fall, with the upgraded Gala Center scheduled to open for use in late spring of 2016.

About Cochran Engineering
Tackling the most complex projects and the toughest challenges, Cochran excels at building long-term relationships with clients, providing the best in design, architecture, inspection and testing, surveying, quality management, and more.