Industry News

Wartburg College is expanding and renovating Becker Hall of Science which currently houses the department of biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and physics. The 50,000-sf structure will be renovated to provide office, storage, and classroom facilities. The building currently houses instructional labs, a greenhouse, an animal room, a 100-seat auditorium, computer rooms, and classrooms. The 55,000-sf addition will contain an auditorium, labs, and state-of-the-art technology for flexible classrooms/seminar rooms.

Investigen is relocating from tighter quarters at the former Alameda Naval Air Station to the North Shore Business Park in Hercules at the end of 2001. The East Bay biotech firm will occupy 8,000 sf of the planned 27,500-sf space in December. Providing lab and office space, the new facility features a non-academic design with large windows and views of San Francisco Bay. The facility will host biotech research related to Investigen's pathogen detection test, water testing, and detection of genetically modified viruses and organisms.

The University of Washington broke ground on a new $80-million law school building—the William H. Gates Hall—in May 2001. Construction of the 196,000-sf four-story building will begin in September 2001 and is slated for completion in summer of 2003. The facility will include a 10,000-sf reading room with stacks occupying approximately 40,000 sf. The building will also feature a 170-person classroom equipped as a trial court, law clinics, seminar rooms, additional instructional areas, as well as offices for staff, faculty, and graduate students.

The University of California is purchasing a site near Merced for a new $400 million campus. Construction is slated to begin in early 2002 on the first three buildings: a science and engineering facility, a library and technology center, and classroom space for arts, humanities, and social sciences. UC received a grant for $11.4 million to finance purchase of the site, and has budgeted $160 million to begin construction. The new campus will accommodate 31,000 people within the next 2 decades.

Olin College of Engineering has contracted Wayne J. Griffin Electric Inc. to provide electrical systems for phase I of the college's new facilities in Needham. The four campus buildings will feature a state-of-the-art lighting system, energy management technology, a control power distribution plant, and campus fire alarm systems.