The Kansas Board of Regents on Thursday approved authorization for construction of a $21.6 million “green technologies” engineering laboratory at Kansas University.

The proposed Measurement, Materials and Sustainable Environment Center will be a 34,600-square-foot lab.

The project will be funded by a $12.3 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and $9.3 million from private funds on deposit at the KU Center for Research.

The building, expected to be completed by spring 2012, will join a complex of engineering buildings west of Eaton Hall on the main campus.