Undeterred by frigid temperatures and gusty winds, roughly 100 faculty, staff, students, and construction workers gathered to watch the groundbreaking of the University of Iowa’s new Health Sciences Academic building Tuesday afternoon.

The new Health Sciences Academic building will be located on South Grand and Melrose Avenues and will be a six-story facility.

The building will be home to communication sciences and disorders, health and human physiology, and the Carver College of Medicine’s Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences department.

All of these departments are nationally ranked by the U.S. News and World Report, with the graduate audiology program under the Communication Sciences and Disorders department ranked No. 2, and the speech and pathology program ranked No. 6. Additionally, Carver College of Medicine’s Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences is ranked No. 4.

On June 14, the state Board of Regents approved the building project budget. The project is currently budgeted at $249 million and will be funded by the University Hospitals Building Usage Funds, university investment income, and private funds. No funds will be provided by the state.

Regents Abby Crow and Nancy Dunkel, university officials, and construction workers gathered for remarks by UI President Barbara Wilson and department executives.

Wilson said this new facility will be a part of a much greater tower at the UIHC complex and is one of many enabling projects to do so.

“It’s going to be a facility that enhances our educational opportunities and clinical opportunities,” Wilson said.

The building will also be the first to bring together the Carver College of Medicine and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“This is one of those hallmarks that’s going to set the stage for future collaborations and that is something I am really excited about,” Wilson said. “Imagine a place where you could get multiple services in one facility and not have to go to the hospital. That will be a game changer.”

In being able to house three programs, Wilson said, undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty will benefit from the addition of clinical laboratories and classroom space.

Gary Pierce, professor and departmental executive officer of Health and Human Physiology, said the department is home to 2,200 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students, outgrowing its current residence in the Field House.

Pierce said this new building will provide much-needed state-of-the-art research labs, teaching laboratories, lecture halls, and classrooms.

“The new Health Sciences Academic building will become a hub for innovative teaching and learning, community outreach, engagement in experiential education, and cutting edge biomedical clinical community health-related research,” Pierce said.

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Eric Hunter, the departmental executive officer and professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, said this will be a new chapter for the communication sciences and disorders that will include cutting-edge, innovative classrooms in speech and audiology clinics.

Richard Shields, the departmental executive officer and professor of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, said he looks forward to working with the Health and Human Physiology Department and seeing what the future holds.

“The strength of the building is only in the quality of the people you put in it,” Shields said.