Industry News

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) opened the $970-million National Security Sciences building in May of 2006.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is initiating the second phase of its Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building project. Phase two will cost approximately $120 million and will add 30,000-sf of research space, including the $7.89-million fit-out of the sixth and eleventh floors to house immunological and neuroscientific research, including the expansion of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. The contractor is Argo Construction.

Albany Molecular has initiated the first major expansion of its Hyderabad Research Centre in India with the construction of a 50,000-sf R&D center. Slated for completion in late 2007, the facility will house early stage contract drug discovery research, including medicinal chemistry and custom chemical synthesis. The project will include a scale-up production laboratory for active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates.

Site preparation is under way by Sundt Construction for SkySong, Arizona State University (ASU) Scottsdale's 34-acre Innovation Center. Higgins Development Parters of Chicago along with Peoria, Ill.-based The Plaza Cos. are developing the $300-million high-tech research park. The two-building first phase will provide over 300,000 sf for office and retail space, of which ASU will occupy 80,000 sf. The scheduled opening of phase one is early 2007.

Schematic design has been completed for Ohio University's new Integrated Learning and Research Facility that will house both The Russ College of Engineering and Technology as well as the College of Osteopathic Medicine. Currently, primary research facilities for both colleges are housed in converted residence halls. Burgess & Niple of Columbus, Ohio, has prepared the plans for the $30-million project, which will go out for bids in about nine months.