Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Plans High Containment Continuity Laboratory

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will begin construction in early 2021 on the 160,000-sf High Containment Continuity Laboratory in Atlanta. Designed by a joint venture of Flad Architects and Page, the BSL-4 facility will support the CDC's mission to rapidly detect and mitigate public health hazards. Accommodating approximately 80 investigators, the state-of-the-art laboratory will be one of three centers in the world designed and certified to facilitate diagnostic research on specific, select viruses. The multistory structure will leverage advanced biocontainment strategies including HEPA-filtered supply and exhaust air, air pressure resistant doors, pressure cascade zoning, effluent collection and treatment systems, chemical decontamination showers, and pressure-decay-tested coatings and penetrations. In addition, there will be connections to the existing Roybal campus utility systems with below-grade tunnels and a two-level bridge connection. Completion is expected in 2024. The High Containment Continuity Laboratory is part of the CDC’s 2025 Masterplan, which was finalized before the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. 

Flad Architects is the overall joint-venture project manager and technical delivery lead, including landscape architecture and building enclosure design services. Page Southerland Page is supporting the planning, programming, and design of the non-containment ancillary support areas, as well as performing equipment and sustainability planning. McCarthy Building Companies has been awarded the $233 million construction management contract for the facility. WSP is providing architectural and engineering planning, programming, and design expertise. HERA is providing comprehensive functional and operational planning.