Biocontainment

The Pirbright Institute’s Plowright Building represents a visionary new model for biocontainment lab design that includes offices, conference areas, an atrium, and a cafeteria all within the containment zone, so researchers don’t need to shower in and out multiple times a day. This inverts the traditional approach to biocontainment design by putting people at the center and lab spaces at the perimeter. Researchers enter the building starting in a centralized non-containment zone and work their way toward the perimeter throughout the day, in a one-way flow.

Chapman University broke ground on the $130 million Center for Science and Technology in late April of 2016 in Orange, Calif. Accommodating the Schmid College of Science and Technology and the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, the three-story, 140,000-sf facility will provide advanced teaching and research space for biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, math, computational science, food science, psychology, and health science.

South Dakota State University is building two new large animal research facilities. Construction began in October of 2014 on the $6 million Swine Education and Research Facility, which will include a classroom, boar and sow housing, research space, and a biosecure glass observation area. The $6 million Cow-Calf Education and Research Facility, slated for completion in spring of 2016, will provide offices, laboratory space, conference rooms, livestock evaluation pens, a monoslope research building, and replicated pastures.

The National Veterinary Research Institute has completed commissioning the Bio-Safety Level III Laboratory in Vom, Nigeria. The $2.5 million facility will enhance the Institute's ability to detect, diagnose, and respond to infectious diseases throughout West Africa. The duration of construction for the project, which was created in partnership with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, was three years.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is planning to construct the $45.7 million Meat Science and Muscle Biology Lab. The two-story, 67,540-sf project will provide a biosafety laboratory, a meat laboratory, a teaching facility, and faculty offices. An existing structure currently located on the site, the Seed Building, will be demolished to allow the Meat Science and Muscle Biology Lab to be built. Construction will begin in July of 2017 with occupancy expected in spring of 2018.

Complex technology, expanding program, and increasingly specialized and segmented roles and responsibilities often create a disconnect in the process of designing and building sophisticated facilities. The result can be a research or diagnostic lab or high-containment animal building that becomes a burden to the owner, whether because it hasn’t been right-sized, is not energy efficient, or operates with sub-par reliability. The solution is to assign someone the task of aligning design decisions with the building’s ultimate scientific mission.

The Royal Centre for Disease Control was dedicated in November of 2015 in Thimbu, Bhutan. The $4.9 million public health laboratory features a BSL-3 research facility built in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization. The secure three-story building will support the detection, study, and prevention of infectious diseases including tuberculosis, HIV, and water-borne pathogens.

The Pirbright Institute’s Plowright Building transforms the standard box-in-a-box bunker-like containment facility into an interactive environment filled with natural light, expansive views through full-height windows, and extensive opportunities for collaboration. Offices, a cafeteria, and a three-story glass atrium all exist within the containment barrier, reducing the number of times researchers need to shower and gown in and out each day.

Construction began in October of 2015 on the $59 million (NZD$87m) National Biocontainment Laboratory in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Designed by Merrick & Company to meet international biosafety standards, the secure facility will provide advanced labs for infectious disease detection, diagnosis, and response. The completed project will also offer veterinary diagnostics to support international trade assurances of the status of animal diseases. Full operations will commence in 2019.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has selected Merrick & Company to develop the Program of Requirements (POR) for the renovation of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) in Athens, Ga. The $158 million modernization project includes new construction and renovation of existing facilities on an active, 60-year-old campus that encompasses biosafety laboratories, brooding and breeding facilities, administrative offices, and support space.

The Army Institute of Public Health has awarded a $206 million contract to a joint venture of The Walsh Group and Gilbane Building Company for the Public Health Command (PHC) laboratory replacement project. Located on 20 acres at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the 275,000-sf biomedical research facility will include wet labs, field labs, offices, anechoic chambers, laser labs, a vivarium, an insectary, and a 43,000-gsf central utility plant.

Texas A&M University opened an 11,000-sf avian health complex for the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences in August of 2015. Located in College Station, the climate-controlled aviary facility provides a BSL-2 biocontainment lab, a bird hospital, quarantine suites, three isolation rooms, classrooms, and offices.

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) is constructing a 950,000-sf replacement facility at Fort Detrick, Md. The $800 million project will provide BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4 laboratory space to support advanced biomedical research. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction on the project in August of 2009 and completion is expected in 2017.

Colorado State University is planning to build the $47 million Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Family Equine Hospital in Fort Collins. The 180,000-sf project will provide advanced diagnostic and surgical services, and house eight biosecure isolation stalls for the treatment of horses with infectious diseases. Supporting 27 equine clinicians, the hospital will feature imaging technologies, including a high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanner. A 3 Tesla MRI will be installed in a new CSU research building adjacent to the facility.

The University of Queensland opened the $100 million Oral Health Centre in Brisbane in July of 2015. Located next to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston, the seven-story, 48,400-sf facility provides dental clinics, lecture and seminar rooms, simulation training labs, two surgical suites, biomedical research space, and a Physical Containment Level 2 (PC2) biosafety lab. The project features demonstration chairs equipped with integrated recording and streaming technologies for the documentation of procedures.