Vatterott College will break ground on a 43,000-square-foot campus on Thursday at 2 p.m.

Pending regulatory approval, the new facility will be a one-story building located at 7000 Fleur Drive, just south of Des Moines International Airport. The college is currently located at Southwest 63rd Street and Thornton Avenue.

The new campus will house 18 classrooms, laboratory classrooms for trade, medical, dental and computer programs, as well as faculty offices, a library, a student lounge, a career center and a conference room. Construction is expected to be complete by November.

“We wanted to be able to expand the programs we could offer,” said Jodi Clendenen, the campus co-director. “We were not able to bring in the trade programs we wanted at our current facilities.”

The new building will support the expansion of degree and certificate programs, such as medical assistant and computer-aided drafting. It will also support the introduction of new trade programs in diesel mechanics and heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration maintenance.

“We talked to local employers and they expressed a need for skilled labor in these fields,” Clendenen said.

Vatterott currently has around 200 students at its Des Moines campus. Clendenen said the addition of the new programs, which would cater to a different type of student than the programs the school currently offers, could push enrollment up another 100 students.

“The diesel mechanics program is something that isn’t offered at any of our other 19 campuses,” she said.

Clendenen said Vatterott focuses on classes that directly relate to what students will be doing in their chosen careers. Work with area high schools has begun to raise awareness of Vatterott among younger students and draw more to the school.

“We are definitely beginning to see a shift to a younger student body,” she said.