By Kim Glovas

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. (CBS) -- A ceremonial groundbreaking was held today for a $40-million makeover of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School, in Montgomery County.

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The project actually began as soon as students were finished with the school year, and will be done in eight phases.

Joe Messmer, a 2000 graduate of  Plymouth Whitemarsh, is now an architect working on the project.

"Phase one is the centralized cafeteria," he tells KYW Newsradio.  "That's going to be a 600-seat (cafeteria for) students.  It's going to have an outdoor seating area, large kitchen, scatter serve."

Scatter-serve is similar to a food court, offering hot and cold lunches at a variety of stations.  Currently, there are two cafeterias at opposite ends of the sprawling complex.

The project, which is expected to be completed in about 2½ years, will also upgrade the electrical, lighting, and plumbing systems, and install air conditioning throughout.