CHAMPAIGN – The Board of Certified Safety Professionals will build a new headquarters in Champaign this fall, with plans to double its staff in five to 10 years.

The professional organization, which employs 22 at its office at 208 Burwash Ave., Savoy, is ready to build a $3 million office at 2213 W. Bradley Ave., C.

That location is just west of the Tri Star Marketing office and east of the drivers' license facility.

"We liked the idea of being across the street from Parkland College, and access in and out was easy," Executive Director Thomas Adams said.

Adams, who succeeded longtime director Roger Brauer last fall, said the organization continues a 36-year commitment to the Champaign-Urbana area with the new headquarters.

"The Champaign area is ideal for a certification board, given the large number of highly educated people who want to make this area home," he said.

Designs for the new, 13,000-square-foot building were developed by Gorski Reifsteck Architects in Champaign. The building will include several "green" features, including motion detectors for lighting, special windows and geothermal heating and cooling.

The Petry-Kuhne Co. of Champaign plans to begin construction in mid-August, with the project expected to take about nine months. Adams said the staff hopes to be in the new building by late April.

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals occupies about 7,200 square feet in Savoy, where it has been based for 28 years.

It acquired the 2-acre property on West Bradley Avenue several years ago from the American Oil Chemists' Society, which occupied the Tri Star building before moving to Urbana.

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals provides credentials for safety, health and environmental professionals. It also provides certification for technicians, technologists and supervisors in those fields.

Since 1969, more than 30,000 people have received credentials from the organization.

More than 12,000 currently hold the Certified Safety Professional designation. About 7,500 others are certified as Occupational Health and Safety Technologists, Construction Health and Safety Technicians and Safety Trained Supervisors.

The organization was established in 1969 under the sponsorship of the American Society of Safety Engineers. Originally based in Park Ridge, the board moved to Champaign in 1974 and to Savoy in 1982.

The number of professionals seeking certification from the board is growing, Adams said.

If the number sitting for certification continues growing at the same pace, "we'll require substantial growth in staff" to handle it, he said.

Plus, the organization is looking at adding other credentials.

Some demand for credentialing comes from Asia, where China and India have shown high interest in U.S.-based certification programs, Adams said.

"That's where we're seeing a lot of the growth occur," he said. "They want to demonstrate they have the same level of skill and understanding as those in the field in the U.S., Europe or Japan."

But the board has also seen a surge in interest domestically. During the recession, people have scurried to brush up their credentials.

"We've seen two very strong years of people seeking certifications," Adams said. "They see it as having a leg up on someone else applying for a position."

Plus, some companies hope to gain an edge on competition by having certified employees.

"Some corporations with downtime have had more people become certified, so when building and other manufacturing jobs come back, they will have certified people," he said.