Industry News

NASA Glenn Research Center opened the $20.5 million Mission Integration Center in Cleveland in July of 2014. The three-story, 90,000-sf facility provides collaborative research and office space to accommodate 300 employees. The project has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification and will use 30 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building. Construction began on the facility in September of 2010.

Kansas State University broke ground in July of 2014 on the Bulk Solids Innovation Center in Salina. Designed by Jones Gillam Renz Architects, the 130,000-sf facility will be the only research hub in North America for the study of bulk solids materials handling. The center is being built by Ron Fowles Construction and occupancy is expected in April of 2015.

Lahey Hospital is planning a $60 million expansion of its academic medical center campus in Burlington, Mass. Designed by FreemanWhite and built by Suffolk Construction, the 190,000-sf facility will provide a new emergency department as well as mechanical areas and shell space to accommodate future growth. The project will be delivered using Model-Based Estimating and Lean construction methodologies. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which is slated for completion in spring of 2017.

Whittier College will begin construction in spring of 2015 on a $46 million renovation of the Stauffer Science Building in Whittier, Calif. Designed by Steinberg Architects of Los Angeles, the 88,000-sf structure will be renamed the Science and Learning Center and will provide a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. The laboratory design consultant for the project is Research Facilities Design (RFD) of San Diego. Completion is expected in 2017.

WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG), a global provider of regulatory and ethical review services for clinical research, acquired Alliance Biosciences in July of 2014. With this addition, WCG Biosafety will be able to manage the entire continuum of biocontainment oversight, helping to ensure that research involving potentially hazardous agents and vectors complies with the appropriate regulatory requirements from laboratory design and drug discovery through clinical testing and therapeutic application.