UK Board of Trustees approves construction phase for new Health Education Building
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 16, 2023) — The construction phase of the new University of Kentucky Health Education Building was approved Friday by the UK Board of Trustees.
The $380 million project was authorized by the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly and the design phase was approved by the Board of Trustees in May 2021.
The world-class medical education facility will include approximately 450,000-square-feet of classroom, simulation suites, seminar rooms, conference rooms and faculty and staff workplace for the future site of the UK College of Medicine. It also will house programs and services for the UK colleges of Public Health, Health Sciences, Nursing and the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education. It will be the hub for medical related education and preparation for the next generation of health leaders in the Commonwealth and beyond.
Groundbreaking for the building is expected to be in 2024 with completion anticipated in late 2026.
Nationally, physician demand is expected to exceed supply exponentially over the next 10 years with Kentucky’s needs among the highest in the nation, particularly in rural areas. Training physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to practice throughout the state is of critical importance. Additionally, UK’s colleges of medicine, health science, nursing and public health all must increase space to teach more students to meet the needs of the Commonwealth.
The new Health Education Building will occupy a prominent location at the intersection of Huguelet Drive and University Drive and create a new gateway at the northeast corner of the medical campus.
For more information and ongoing updates about the construction of the building, go to this website.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.