Industry News

The University of Iowa opened the 35,000-sf BioVentures Center in Coralville in January of 2009. Located in the UI Research Park, the business incubator features 20 wet labs, 16 offices, shared equipment rooms, and conference rooms for biotechnology and life science companies. Supporting the commercialization of research discoveries, the $8.5 million facility was designed by OPN Architects and built by Ryan Companies, both of Cedar Rapids. Construction began in November of 2007 and reached substantial completion in November of 2008.

Florida State University opened the $20 million High-Performance Materials Institute in January of 2009. Located in Innovation Park in Tallahassee, the facility houses research and development laboratories for advanced composite materials, components, and structures. Designed by Ponikvar & Associates of Gainesville, the High-Performance Materials Institute includes a high-bay manufacturing lab, a vibration-isolated slab for microscopes, and a cleanroom. The two-story, 45,000-sf project was built by Culpepper Construction.

German wind turbine maker Nordex will build a $100 million manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Ark. Sited on 187 acres in the Craighead Technology Park, the facility will support 700 employees and will manufacture all wind turbine components except the tower. The project will be supported by training programs at Arkansas State University. The plant will be operational by January of 2010, with a second construction phase reaching completion in 2012.

AREVA is partnering with Northrop Grumman to build a $360 million nuclear reactor component manufacturing plant in Newport News, Va. The 300,000-sf Project Larkspur will be located on the campus of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding with access to the James River for transportation of the steam generators, reactor vessels, and pressurizers the plant will produce. The manufacturing and engineering facility will support 540 employees. AREVA is headquartered in Paris, France.

DNAVision, an applied genetics and genomics services company, completed an expansion of its campus in Charleroi-Gosselies, Belgium, in January of 2009. Doubling laboratory and office space, the project added five new lab areas for cell culture and nucleic acid extraction. Supporting the company’s RNA- and DNA-based analytical techniques, the expansion will enable DNAVision to provide GMP certified assays. Additionally, subsidiary DNAVision AgriFood will relocate to a new facility in early 2009.