The Texas Legislature allocated $52.4 million for the construction of a second College of Technology building at the University of Houston at Sugar Land during its third special session, which ended early Oct. 19.

With the addition of this new building, the UH’s entire College of Technology will move to the Sugar Land campus, said Jay Neal, associate vice president and chief operating officer at UH at Sugar Land and UH at Katy, during a Oct. 21 Fort Bend Economic Development Council meeting.

“This is a game changer for our community,” Neal said. “The programs that we have really meet our business community’s needs in terms of advanced manufacturing, supply chain management, biotechnology, human resource development, professional project management and digital media.”

In all, the UH System and its four universities received $339.5 million to fund facility construction and renovations, according to a UH press release. Under the Capital Construction Assistance Projects program, the Texas Legislature allocated $3.3 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding for campus construction projects statewide, according to the release.

“This will help all of the UH System universities and instructional sites to improve their respective facilities so that we may continue to expand educational opportunities and launch new programs that meet the changing workforce demands of our regional and state economies,” said Jason Smith, UH System vice chancellor for governmental and community relations, in the release.