One goal on the Northern Essex Community College project list is the renovation for the B and E building on the Haverhill campus. 

“B building” also the General Services Center and “E building” also the Science Building will bring staff, students, and other occupants a better facility and campus life with new science labs, offices, windows, full sized elevator, and a brand new training center, according to NECC President Lane Glenn. 

Glenn recently took the time to speak with the Observer about the project. 

One end of the E Science building will contain the new “Fab Lab” for career and technical education programs. The Fab Lab will use three stories, Glenn said. 

The first floor will have the HVAC program, heating, ventilation and air conditioning but specifically heat pump technology. 

The second floor will have the base manufacturing program that will have classes that will help people who are going into any manufacturing industry. 

The third floor will have the clean lab for biotechnology. 

It is a labatory for creating things where the occupants have to be in a sterile environment and must wear (PPE), personal protective equiptment such as suits, gloves, safety glasses, head and face masks, shoe covers, etc. 

It is possible that the biotechnology program may be included in the science program so it may be taken as a degree. 

Thus, these new training programs that are currently in-design can be taken as both degree or certificate. 

It is also a non-credit training workforce development that anybody can pay to take if they just need the training to go into the specfic workfield.

Another great part of this program is that if students already have a degree, a certificate, or two which is the limit then they can just pay to take one of the training programs on top of their degree or degrees. The renovations for B and E building cost about 22 million dollars and was paid by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  

This project had been  planned and developed through the Northern Essex leadership team made up of the President Lane Glenn, Exectutive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer Mike McCarthy, other administrators and the Board of Trustees. 

After the proposal submitted by NECC was granted and finally put into action soon after it was announced by NECC News in 2022. “This is great news for the college and its students,” said Lane Glenn, NECC president in the article “NECC Receives Funding to Renovate Two Haverhill Campus Buildings.” 

 The construction is now expected to be completed in December 2026.

Another plan in action on the project list that is undergoing landscaping, construction and installation is the solar panels that will cover a quarter of the electricity on the Haverhill campus. It will save money and be more environmentally friendly, said McCarthy in a recent interview with the Observer. 

Another upcoming plan on the project list is the installtion of three new charging stations at the LA (Amesbury Street) building parking lot of Lawrence campus. Students should make sure to get parking passes. When parking in Lawrence is full, staff and students can use the overflow parking lot next to the Dimitry L building on Franklin St. 

More plans being investigated and studied would include getting new track and athlethic fields in Haverhill, which would require partnerships and different revenue sources to make it happen, McCarthy said. 

 It stands in view as a community asset, McCarthy said. “The vision of the field is to have the community youth seeing Northern Essex,” said McCarthy. 

As for the recent leaks within the C Spurk building, many have been fixed and the remaining leaks are expected to be fixed by the end of this spring semester, said Glenn. 

 “It is a challenge in urban campuses everywhere,” said Glenn. 

It turns out that the winter caused the water inside the pipes and vents to freeze and this created the damage and leaks throughout the C building on Haverhill campus, he said.

More projects are needed in the future.

“We have to replace the roof of the Athletic building. The goal is to fix it in two years. It all comes down to priority and what we can apply for, what we can get for funding,” said McCarthy when asked about the leaks in the Athletic building. 

Housing partnership for Northern Essex is also currently being studied and planned as of now and if it does happen, it will be sooner than we think. 

Among those partners in mind are Merrimack College in North Andover, and North Point Bible College in Bradford. Both colleges have ready to use available dorms and or apartments.

Not all community colleges have housing but this idea becomes one that can benefit students and the school. 

“One of the advantages of this is if a student lives in a dorm with a meal plan, we can package housing and food as part of a financial aid award,” said Glenn when asked what would be one of the beneficial possibilities in housing as a student of Northern Essex.