Animal Research

Zoetis broke ground in April of 2018 on a 463,000-sf animal vaccine center in Suzhou, China. Combining research and development operations with integrated manufacturing and supply, the facility will produce vaccines for swine, cattle, fish, and companion animals. Offering sophisticated innovation suites and certified GMP laboratories, the project will support research on disease threats prevalent in China with a primary focus on aquaculture.

A new approach to the design of diagnostic labs in resource-constrained settings reduces risk and improves outcomes while accelerating the project timeline and lowering costs. The approach is based on the concept of One Prototype, which uses similar design modules as a starting point for each lab facility, whether new construction or renovation, no matter what the scale.

The University of Otago is constructing a NZD$50 million animal research building on its south campus in Dunedin, New Zealand. Located near the School of Medicine, the five-story, 42,367-sf facility will feature advanced technologies to optimize the welfare of the mice, rats, guinea pigs, birds, and pigs utilized in the University's research programs. Construction began in August of 2016 and completion is expected in early 2019. 

The Texas A&M University System is planning to construct the $22.8 million Veterinary Education, Research & Outreach Center at West Texas A&M University in Canyon. Strategically sited adjacent to the new Agricultural Sciences Complex and the relocated Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab, the facility will accommodate programs for two Texas A&M campuses, Canyon and College Station. The VERO Center will offer classrooms, labs, and livestock facilities for experiential animal sciences education and training. Completion is expected in 2020.

Purdue University dedicated its $60 million, 122,462-sf animal sciences complex in March of 2018 in West Lafayette, Ind. Ground was broken in November of 2015 on the project, which includes the Hobart and Russell Creighton Hall of Animal Sciences, the Land O' Lakes Center for Experiential Learning, and the Purina Pavilion.

The University of Reading began construction in March of 2017 on the £55 million Health and Life Sciences Building in the United Kingdom. Located on the Whiteknights campus in Reading, the four-story, 81,000-sf project will provide two floors dedicated to wet and dry research, as well as teaching labs, seminar rooms, classrooms, offices, and the Cole Museum of Zoology.

Taconic Biosciences, a breeder of mice and rats for medical research, opened its 8,000-sf headquarters in February of 2018 in East Greenbush, N.Y. Located in the Cancer Research Center Building on the University at Albany Health Sciences campus, the facility is strategically sited to optimize relationships with key stakeholders and customers. The space houses the company's leadership team, as well as members of its product strategy, marketing, human resources, finance, quality, customers service, and business technology units.

The University of New Mexico will begin construction in spring of 2018 on the $65.7 million Physics, Astronomy, and Interdisciplinary Science Center in Albuquerque. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and Van H. Gilbert, the 139,100-gsf facility will provide a variety of collaborative teaching and research spaces as well as housing the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has received final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct research at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4).  After years of scrutiny by regulatory agencies and city, state, and federal officials, the $200 million laboratory will now be able to work with approved BSL-4 pathogens such as Ebola and Marburg.

Georgia State University is planning to construct a $35 million biocontainment research facility in Atlanta. Located on the Downtown campus, the 55,000-sf building will provide BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories for the study of infectious diseases and select agents. The project, which will be the first academic BSL-4 facility in the Southeast, will include open research labs, offices, and support space. 

The University of Tennessee is constructing the $118 million Ken and Blaire Mossman Building in Knoxville. Designed by McCarty Holsaple McCarty and Lord Aeck Sargent, the six-story, 222,000-sf facility will accommodate programs in microbiology, psychology, nutrition, biochemistry, and cellular and molecular biology. Offering spaces for both structured and unstructured interaction, the collaborative project includes classrooms ranging from 81 to 126 seats, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, a 228-seat auditorium, and a café.

Carleton University opened the CAD$52 million Academic Health Science Building in January of 2018 in Ottawa. Designed by Montgomery Sisam Architects and NXL Architects, the seven-story, 120,000-sf facility provides undergraduate teaching labs, research labs, lecture halls, offices, and study spaces to support neuroscience and health science programs. The project includes two floors of shell space to allow for future growth, as well as an animal research vivarium on the seventh floor that will open later in 2018.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology began operations in its BSL-4 laboratories in January of 2018. Supporting research on infectious diseases and select agents, the biocontainment facility will enable scientists to develop innovative strategies for the detection and mitigation of pathogenic threats. Construction began on the facility in 2011 with trial operations beginning in 2015.

Boehringer Ingelheim began construction in December of 2017 on a 50,000-sf expansion of its 350,000-sf animal vaccine production facility in Athens, Ga. The completed 400,000-sf project will begin commercial operations in mid-2019. Boehringer Ingelheim will also construct a 13,000-sf addition for the manufacture of livestock animal vaccines on its 700,000-sf campus in St. Joseph, Mo.

In the concluding Open Forum/Town Hall session of Tradeline’s Facility Strategies for Animal Research and Biocontainment conference, moderator Derek Westfall, president of Tradeline, and subject matter commentators, Mark Corey with Flad Architects and Tiffini Lovelace with EYP Architecture & Engineering, led a knowledge exchange on questions posed by conference attendees. This is an edited transcript of that exchange.