Biomedical

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult is planning to create the Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Braintree in the United Kingdom. Supported by £100 million in government funding, the project will enable mass production of a COVID-19 vaccine. An existing pharmaceutical plant has been purchased from Benchmark Holdings at a cost of £16 million. The structure's GMP infrastructure for antigen production, formulation, process development, and scale manufacturing will be repurposed and enhanced. Completion is expected in December of 2021.

DiNAQOR AG completed construction in July of 2020 on a 9,687-sf R&D center in Schlieren, Switzerland. Located in the Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zürich, the BSL-2 facility will enable DiNAQOR to fast-track the development of its human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and engineered heart tissue platform. Accelerating the creation of next-generation genetic medicine methodologies, the project also provides sophisticated infrastructure to further optimize the company's proprietary locoregional heart perfusion approach.

Cleveland Clinic Florida opened the 107,000-sf Florida Research & Innovation Center in July of 2020 in Port St. Lucie. Accelerating the translation of medical discoveries into innovative therapeutics for clinical treatment, the facility will provide leading-edge laboratories for research programs in immuno-oncology and infectious diseases, such as Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2. The center includes BSL-3 biocontainment suites, administrative offices, meeting rooms, and an area for training programs. 

Winstanley Enterprises is planning to build a $100 million bioscience research building in New Haven, Conn. Designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, the 10-story, 500,000-sf facility will provide leasable laboratory and office environments for life science companies and academic institutions. Featuring a large public plaza, the project will include a conference center, a 50,000-sf business incubator, and a classroom for K-12 educational programs.

MilliporeSigma, a subsidiary of Merck, is planning to expand its existing campus in Buchs, Switzerland, with the construction of a $20 million laboratory for the company's reference materials business. Accommodating 40 employees, the three-story, 12,000-sf structure will provide analytical and R&D suites for the testing of pharmaceuticals, environmental materials, and food and beverage products.

Colorado State University is constructing the $34.6 million Johnson Family Equine Hospital on the South Campus in Fort Collins. Located in the Veterinary Health Complex on CSU’s South Campus, the 85,000-sf project will provide translational research and treatment facilities including sophisticated operating rooms, an equine sports medicine center, advanced imaging suites, a dedicated isolation unit, and rehabilitation and therapy areas.

SiO2 Materials Science is investing $163 million to expand its production capacity for vaccine vials and syringes in Auburn, Ala. The company will increase the footprint of its existing facility in the Auburn Technology Park West to create a 70,000-sf manufacturing center with additional space for precision injection molding operations. A second molding plant will also be constructed nearby. 

University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf is planning to build a 193,000-sf translational medicine hub in Hamburg, Germany. Housing the Campus Research II facility and the Hamburg Center for Translational Immunology, the interdisciplinary complex will provide 150 labs for the study of inflammation, infection, and immunology. The structure will also accommodate collaborative workspaces, instrumentation suites, research offices, and interaction zones.

AstraZeneca is planning to expand its Hurdsfield campus with the construction of a 95,000-sf pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Accommodating 72 new employees, Building 52 will occupy a remediated brownfield site in Macclesfield in the United Kingdom. The two-story structure will provide leading-edge formulation suites and production lines for the manufacture of prescription medicines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will begin construction in early 2021 on the 160,000-sf High Containment Continuity Laboratory in Atlanta. Designed by a joint venture of Flad Architects and Page, the BSL-4 facility will support the CDC's mission to rapidly detect and mitigate public health hazards. Accommodating approximately 80 investigators, the state-of-the-art laboratory will be one of three centers in the world designed and certified to facilitate diagnostic research on specific, select viruses.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa completed construction in June of 2020 on the $65 million Life Sciences Building in Honolulu. Accommodating the College of Natural Sciences' School of Life Sciences, the 70,000-sf interdisciplinary facility offers six teaching labs, 15 research labs, 28 faculty offices, 52 graduate student workstations, five conference rooms, and a 600-sf student collaboration area.

Trammell Crow Company will break ground in July of 2020 on Fulton Labs in Chicago. Providing wet and dry research environments, the 16-story, 423,454-sf life science facility will offer column-free and long-span layouts as well as a dedicated innovation floor for early-stage companies. Designed for maximum flexibility and scalability, the 16-story structure will integrate advanced mechanical infrastructure to support advanced R&D enterprises, with all labs meeting VC-A vibration criteria to ensure reproducible research results.

Sanofi Pasteur is planning to create the Evolutive Vaccine Facility (EVF) in Neuville sur Saône, France. Representing an investment of €490 million over a five-year period, the structure will house a central unit containing several fully digital production modules, enabling the manufacture of four vaccines simultaneously. This modularity will make it possible to prioritize the delivery of a specific vaccine to address crucial public health issues. The company will also invest €120 million to construct a new R&D center in Marcy-l'Etoile.

AZIsotopes is building a $45 million headquarters and production facility in Bunker Hill, Ind. The project includes the renovation of a 55,000-sf shell building and the construction of a 28,000-sf addtion, which will house a cyclotron vault with walls ten feet thick to isolate the instrument's two 70-ton magnets. Strategically located near Grissom Air Force Base to meet security requirements, the facility will support the creation of medical isotopes for diagnostic testing and clinical treatment. Operations at the site are expected to begin by early 2021.

Access to quick, reliable, and repeated testing has been one of the greatest challenges for businesses, institutions, and individuals during the SARS-CoV-2 crisis. HOK has partnered with Germfree Laboratories to design a mobile testing lab that will help large organizations to meet this urgent need. These self-contained biocontainment facilities can provide advanced, onsite capabilities for any setting.