Skanska celebrates topping out of Mitchell Hall at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, VA – Skanska, a leading global construction and development firm, recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The milestone marks significant construction progress on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which adds over 70% more gross square feet on the same site, making it the College of Engineering’s largest building on campus.

“Every person on this team has brought remarkable skill and dedication to Mitchell Hall, and that commitment shows in what we've built so far,” said Mark Balling, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska's Mid-Atlantic region. "We’re honored to deliver another facility for Virginia Tech that represents a bold step forward not just for today's students and faculty, but for the many generations that follow.”      

Construction of the new five-story building improves accessibility throughout the campus, providing an additional ADA-compliant pedestrian pathway. Additionally, Mitchell Hall will house high-performing classrooms, instructional labs, and research lab space for the College’s aerospace and ocean engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and engineering education programs. The new facility is being constructed around one of the largest university-owned wind tunnels in the country, carefully preserving the existing structure within the new footprint.

Construction highlights to date include:

• 18,321 cubic yards of concrete
• 2,600 tons of reinforcing steel
• Approximately 300,000 work hours (162,000 solely from the concrete subcontractor)

To commemorate the achievement, Mitchell Hall namesake Norris Mitchell and his wife, Wendy, along with representatives from Virginia Tech, Skanska, and trade partners, raised a ceremonial concrete bucket atop the building as a symbol of the collaborative effort that made this achievement possible.

Skanska completed construction on the Virginia Tech Undergraduate Science Laboratory Building in 2025 and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Addition in Roanoke in 2020. Virginia Tech Mitchell Hall is expected to be completed in winter 2028.

A rendering of the project and photos from the topping out ceremony can be found here. Credit: Skanska USA Building.