Contractors, dignitaries and future staff of the new USC Moreton Bay campus will celebrate a key construction milestone tomorrow (Tuesday 13 August), with the roof completion taking the project past the halfway mark.

Once the expansive foundation building is complete, the campus at Petrie will offer world-class study opportunities for residents in the region, starting with 1,200 students next year and growing to an expected 10,000 by 2030.

On Tuesday 13 August at 2pm, dignitaries and key members of the construction workforce will attend the site for a “topping-off” celebration at 2pm.

USC Chief Operating Officer Dr Scott Snyder said while the completion of the roof was the most visible milestone to date, much more was happening inside the foundation building.

“We are further along than halfway, and the fitout is progressing well,” Dr Snyder said.

“The ground floor of the teaching spaces all have glazing installed, the partitions are in and the services are well advanced.

“Soon the scaffolding will come down from inside the atrium to reveal ‘The Rise’ – the central indoor meeting steps – which will be quite spectacular.”

The three-storey building covers more than 16,000 square metres of floor space and, until now, the concrete structure has been the focus of construction by contract builder Hansen Yuncken.

“We’ve had more than 200 construction workers per day on site, and there’s a real buzz now as we can see the learning spaces taking shape,” Dr Snyder said.

“Academics and professional staff due to work there next year have been on a tour and they’re excited to see it all coming together.”

The finished building will feature a 480-seat lecture theatre, state-of-the-art learning technology, nursing simulation labs, engineering labs, a ‘makerspace’, library facilities and renewable energy initiatives. A virtual tour of the campus is available online.

The campus will open for Semester 1, 2020, with almost 50 undergraduate degrees available, including business, education, computer science and mechatronics.

Enrolment applications are now open and prospective students can apply for scholarships, including Moreton Bay Regional Council Scholarships worth $8,000 per year.

Dr Snyder said the campus would service the Moreton Bay region, which was projected to grow by a further 200,000 residents in the next 20 years.