Industry News

The University of South Carolina opened the first research building on its Innovista campus in Columbia in fall of 2006. The $22-million Arnold School of Public Health Research Center will house laboratories and departmental space for exercise science and environmental health sciences. The 104,860-sf facility integrates sustainable design principles with extensive use of natural light as well as carpet, flooring, and furniture made from recycled materials.

Adventist Health is planning a $60-million expansion and renovation of its 242-bed St. Helena Hospital in California's Napa Valley. The first $30-million phase of the project will include development of a 25,000-sf Outpatient Services Pavilion, comprised of a 12,500-sf cancer center and an 11,000-sf expanded outpatient surgery center. The Family Birth Center will be relocated and expanded from 3,400 sf to 6,800 sf. A cardiovascular and peripheral vascular lab will also be constructed.

Fidelity Investments recently broke ground in fall of 2006 on a new 569,000-sf facility in Smithfield, Rhode Island, which will be the largest office building in the state. Gilbane Building Co. has been selected to serve as construction manager for the project. The new $200-million facility, the third building to be constructed by Gilbane on Fidelity’s Smithfield campus, will be home to Fidelity’s Pyramis Global Advisors group and Fidelity Personal Investments. Accompanying the office building is a 2,500-car multi-level parking structure.

The University of Queensland opened the $70-million Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) in Brisbane on Oct. 23, 2006. Located on the school's St. Lucia campus, the six-level facility will accommodate research combining the biological, physical, and chemical sciences. Housing over 250 staff and students with a maximum capacity of 350, the center houses state-of-the-art microfabrication facilities, a GMP-ready bioprocessing facility, world-class microscopy facilities, and advanced data storage and visualization capabilities. 

AMDeC Co., a consortium representing 35 medical institutions in the New York area, is creating a multi-institutional rodent housing facility in Yonkers, New York. Holding up to 80,000 cages and 40,000 mice, the facility will enable institutions such as Columbia University, Rockefeller University, the New York University School of Medicine, and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System to share space and equipment for research.