Industry News

Western Digital Corp. is engaged in a 60,000-sf expansion of its facilities in Fremont, Calif. Housing a cleanroom, R&D laboratories, and a mechanical plant, the project will add a second story to the existing structure. Marelich Mechanical, a subsidiary of Emcor Group, will utilize BIM (Building Information Modeling) to plan and install the building systems for the project.

St. Vincent Health System has selected a partnership of Hoar Construction and Goodgame Co. to build the $31.4 million St. Clair Hospital in Pell City, Ala. The 76,000-sf replacement facility will include surgical suites, an emergency department, 40 inpatient beds, and outpatient services. Construction of the two-story hospital will begin in summer of 2010 and reach completion in late summer of 2011. A 45,000-sf medical office building will also be built at the site.

The University of Wisconsin will begin construction in mid-2010 on the $75.7 million Wisconsin Energy Institute in Madison. Designed by HOK and Potter Lawson, the 200,000-sf facility will support renewable energy research. M.A. Mortenson Co. is the general contractor for the project.

St. Joseph’s Hospital broke ground in December of 2009 on a $220 million expansion of its health center in Syracuse, N.Y. The project includes a new emergency services building, an operating room suite, an intensive care unit, and a data center. The emergency services building will house 54 beds and a 15-bed clinical observation unit and is slated for completion in summer of 2011.

Ruhr University will begin construction in 2010 on the 65,000-sf European Protein Research Institute in Bochum, Germany. Supported by $53 million in funding from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the facility will support research on protein biomarkers for cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's diseases. Completion is expected in 2013. The building will house approximately 150 researchers and staff.