Emergency Response

On Feb. 4, 2023, the temperature in Boston plunged to -9 F. Unbeknownst to the team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a rooftop access door at the Building for Transformative Medicine (BTM), which housed the facility’s vivarium, had been left unlocked. It was a costly oversight. Powerful winds forced the door open, exposing vital infrastructure to extreme cold. Sprinkler pipes froze, cracked, and ultimately burst when temperatures rose, unleashing a flood that cascaded through critical areas.

UC Davis Health broke ground in July of 2024 on the $3.75 billion California Tower in Sacramento. Designed by SmithGroup, the 907,000-sf complex will add a 14-story structure and a five-story pavilion to the existing medical center. The transformative development will provide 12 hybrid operating rooms, a state-of-the-art imaging center, and two helicopter landing decks. Ensuring comprehensive healthcare delivery in the region for the next 50 years, the resilient facility will supply 334 private inpatient rooms.

BXP recently completed a 113,000-rsf innovation hub in Waltham, Mass. Designed by TRIA, 103 CityPoint aims to reshape corporate culture for science and technology tenants, energizing its workforce and accelerating growth. The flexible flour-story structure provides 80 percent laboratory and office space, with 20 percent accommodating a double-height cGMP manufacturing area spanning approximately 25,000 sf.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette began construction in June of 2024 on a significant expansion of the New Iberia Research Center, the nation's largest facility for nonhuman primates. Creating an onsite BSL-3 laboratory for the study of infectious diseases and select agents, the $25 million project will enable the development of novel vaccines, diagnostics, and mitigation solutions. Paul J.

Designs by ZMM Architects and Engineers and CannonDesign are underway for a new facility that will bring together under one roof three West Virginia state laboratories and researchers from two universities, creating novel opportunities for collaboration. McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie (MWL) are the lab planners for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and State Police Forensics, and Potesta & Associates are providing civil engineering services. Housed in the new building will be: