OTTUMWA -- The rising cost of construction has forced the University of Northern Iowa to redesign its Human Performance Complex.

Thomas Schellhardt, UNI's vice president of administration and finance, told the Board of Regents Monday the new schematics, which include a different location and less space, will not impact the programs within.

"We made changes … to make it more compact and efficient," Schellhardt said. "All principal parties are pleased with the design."

The Human Performance Complex will serve to support the academic, instructional, research and public service programs of the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Service. The complex also will lease space to practicing members of the medical community, which will serve community members and offer hands-on experience to students in the university's athletics sports medicine program.

The new design, approved Monday, would reduce the size of the 38,450-square-foot facility by about 17 percent. Despite the 6,000-square-foot reduction, Schellhardt said the building lost only 200 square feet of assignable space. The reduction did not reduce any of the leased space, only eliminated hallways and areas Schellhardt said were deemed "unusable."

The new complex, which originally was set to be built adjacent to the west wall of the Wellness/Recreation Center, will now be nestled into an unused space immediately south of the WRC and north of the UNI-Dome.

The new location will permit simplification of the building's structural system, reduce the size of its exterior glass curtainwall area and avoid utility relocations that will help keep the building to its original $6.95 million budget.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1520 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.