Industry News

Eastern Michigan University's new $90 million, energy-efficient addition to and renovation of the Mark Jefferson Science Building is a green design and construction project pursuing LEED silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent's Ann Arbor, Mich., office, the building features a planetarium/classroom, a green roof, a rain garden, and employs stormwater management and daylighting. Phase 1 of the project, an 80,000-sf addition, was completed in December of 2010.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) began construction in February of 2011 on a $218 million vitrification facility in Tokyo. Vitrification creates a solidified glass material from radioactive liquid waste generated by reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear power stations. The facility is slated for completion in March of 2013. The project will provide research space and test furnaces for the development of vitrification processes and technologies.

Swinburne University of Technology opened the $140 million Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) in March of 2010 in Melbourne. Located on the Hawthorn campus, the 10-story building comprises two towers and has a footprint of 21,528 sf. Designed by H2o of Melbourne, the facility features maximum transparency to display technological innovations to the public. The ATC houses classrooms, engineering labs, a 500-seat lecture hall, and the Smart Structures Laboratory, where construction materials are tested with the application of extreme loads.

Alltech opened an algae fermentation facility in March of 2011 in Winchester, Ky. A $200 million renovation project delivered a flexible facility housing biomass fermenters with a capacity of up to 265,000 liters. The building includes a pilot production plant and is designed to support rapid scale-up of new products and processes. The facility houses both mechanical agitation and bubble column fermenters. Alltech is a producer of animal feed additives from materials such as yeast, bacteria, and enzymes.

The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology’s Paleontology Building in Rapid City has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification. The $6 million facility houses laboratories, offices, 300,000 fossils, specimen receiving and preparation areas, collection storage, archives, and a library.  The building was constructed using concrete with 25 percent fly ash. Office counters and shelves are made from recycled paper. A large atrium features wall panels covered in a product made from compressed sunflower husks.