Industry News

Lockheed Martin broke ground on a $24 million expansion of its Newton, Pa., campus in August of 2009. A 17,000-sf addition to the Product Team Building will house expanded manufacturing operations for satellites. The second project, a 15,000-sf conference facility, will accommodate up to 250 people. Both facilities will be built to attain LEED sustainable design certification. The Newton campus is the headquarters of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS).

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., was awarded $60 million in funding in August of 2009 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. $52.7 million will support research and development of advanced particle accelerator technologies and $7.5 million will support collaborative neutrino research with Brookhaven National Lab. The award is the second round of stimulus funding the lab has received, as $34.9 million was awarded to Fermilab in March of 2009.

BASF received a $24.6 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in August of 2009 to support construction of a lithium-ion battery materials production facility in Elyria, Ohio. The $50 million project will be the largest cathode materials manufacturing plant in North America. The funding was awarded by the Department of Energy to support the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative.

The University of California is funding construction of research facilities by loaning the State of California $199.8 million, to be paid back over three years at 3.2 percent interest. The state will then allocate the money to the University of California to support construction on voter-approved projects.

The Republic of Ireland announced a total of 24,000-sm of new university construction projects in August of 2009.