Industry News

Griffith University opened the $18 million Smart Water Research Centre in late November of 2009 on the Gold Coast campus in Queensland, Australia. The facility will support collaborative research with state water authorities and industry partners to develop technologies and solutions to secure future water supplies. The Smart Water Research Centre houses laboratories, distillation rooms, a resource center, and constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment.

Covance will begin construction in December of 2009 on a food safety and nutritional chemistry laboratory in Battle Creek, Mich. The $14 million project includes the purchase, renovation, and expansion of an existing 30,000-sf building. Occupancy is expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The University of Minnesota opened the $69.5 million Medical Biosciences Building in Minneapolis in December of 2009. Designed by Perkins and Will, the 115,000-gsf facility was built by Kraus-Anderson with Sebesta Blomberg as infrastructure engineer. Housing medical research laboratories, offices, and conference space, the facility will support interdisciplinary collaborative research in immunology, neuroscience, cancer research, and infectious diseases. Ground was broken on the project in summer of 2007.

HelioSphera US is planning to construct a $500 million solar panel manufacturing plant in Philadelphia. Sited on 40 acres at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the 500,000-sf facility will feature a 60,000-sf cleanroom. HelioSphera US is a subsidiary of HelioSphera, a maker of thin-film photovoltaic modules based in Athens, Greece.

Western Maryland Regional Medical Center opened its $268 million facility in Cumberland, Md., in November of 2009. Designed by Hord Coplan Macht of Baltimore, the seven-story, 585,000-sf hospital houses 275 beds, 18 surgical suites, an emergency department, intensive care unit, cardiovascular and pediatric units, and laboratories. Construction began on the facility in 2006.