Industry News

Griffith University is building a national climate change adaption research facility on its Gold Coast City campus in Queensland, Australia. Slated for completion in 2010, the sustainably-designed project has been awarded $59 million in federal funding. An $18 million water research facility will also be built in partnership with the Queensland Government and the Gold Coast City Council.

Hamamatsu Photonics will initiate construction in early 2009 on a new electron tube R&D facility in Toyooka, Japan. Housing research and production space for scintillator plates and light sources, the project will quadruple electron tube R&D and manufacturing space at the Toyooka site. Completion is slated for January of 2010.

River Oaks Healthcare is engaged in a $47 million expansion of its hospital in Flowood, Miss. Comprised on a four-story addition, the 145,000-sf facility will house additional space for obstetrical, neonatal, surgical, and general medical services. The project will add 81 beds to the Flowood hospital campus for a total of 191 beds. Completion is expected in August of 2009.

The University of Rhode Island (URI) is building the $60 million Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences in Kingston. The 140,000-sf facility broke ground in March 2007 and is slated for completion in 2009. The architect for the facility is Payette Associates of Boston with Providence-based Gilbane Building Co. as construction manager. The project includes classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, a business incubator, a 300-seat auditorium, and support areas for DNA sequencing.

Over 50 higher education leaders petitioned President-elect Barack Obama to allocate $40 billion for college and university construction projects in December of 2008. The proposal recommends that federal funds be allocated to states on the basis of population and administered by state governors. Eligible projects would need to be ready to break ground within 180 days and schools would contribute 20 percent of the total cost.