Work continues on the expansion of the Forsyth County campus of Lanier Technical College, a project that will nearly double the school's size by this time next year.

The addition of a 60,000-square-foot building next to current facilities will increase capacity for medical training programs, said Michael Moye, president of Lanier Tech.

The project is "coming right along," said Moye, noting that the parking lot is complete and a majority of the building's steel framework is finished.

The Forsyth campus is on Majors Road, just south of Cumming at Exit 13 off Ga. 400.

Once complete, the facility will house most of the school's medical training programs, as well as a large economic development center to "meet needs in the community for an open meeting space."

Moye said this portion of the building, which could be used for "workshops and seminars for industries and businesses, is a multiple-purpose kind of facility."

As for the courses that will be offered in the building, Moye said they are "all high-demand programs in the health care industry."

The facility will house most of the school's medical training programs, including: practical nursing; radiology; sonography; cardiovascular intravenous technology; surgical technology; physical therapy assisting; and medical skin care specialist.

These programs were chosen after a needs analysis conducted by the college and the Technical College System of Georgia, of which it is a unit.

The studies showed the primary demand in Forsyth and surrounding counties is in a variety of health occupations.

Funding for the $11.2 million expansion was approved in the 2007 state budget, with another $1.5 million in the 2009 budget to increase the size of the economic development center.

Forsyth is the second largest of five campuses in Lanier Tech's eight-county reach of Northeast Georgia.