Biomedical

Medicago is initiating a $1.5 million expansion of its Quebec City manufacturing facility to support avian flu vaccine production for clinical trials. The 2,500-sf addition will include purification, storage, and cGMP vaccine manufacturing space. Construction will begin in January 2009 and reach completion by year-end 2009. Medicago’s existing building, housing 10,000-sf of BSL-2 space and 3,000-sf of cGMP manufacturing space, will begin production of an H5N1 vaccine for Phase 1 clinical trials in 2009. The new addition will house Phase 2 clinical studies.

The University of Oklahoma Cancer Institute is slated for completion in summer of 2009. The $210 million, 220,000-sf National Cancer Institute is located at Oklahoma Health Center in Oklahoma City. Construction began on the seven-story project in early 2008.

Victoria Hospital began construction in fall of 2008 on a $4 million cancer research center in London, Ontario. Sited on the third floor of the Victoria Research Laboratories adjacent to Victoria Hospital’s cancer center, the 8,300-sf Gerald C. Baines Centre for Translational Research will house clinical research facilities, interdisciplinary research space, and an imaging laboratory. Completion is expected by early 2010.

The University of Edinburgh broke ground on a £58 million biomedical research center in December of 2008. Located on the University’s Easter Bush campus in Roslin, U.K., the project will house laboratories and offices for research in genetics, developmental biology, neuroscience, immunology, infectious diseases, and animal sciences. The facility is slated for completion in 2011 and will be complemented by a new veterinary teaching building and small animal hospital. The project architect is CUH2A.

Trinity College Dublin is planning to build an 11-story biomedical sciences research and training facility in Dublin, Ireland. The €75 million project will include research, academic, and commercial office space. Slated for completion in 2010, the 28,000-sm TCD Biomedical Sciences Development will house the Institute of Immunology, the Cancer Drug Discovery Center of Excellence, the Bioengineering Center, and space for the Institute of Neuroscience.

Siemens Healthcare completed an 115,000-sf expansion of its Diagnostic Reagent Facility in East Walpole, Mass., in November of 2008. Comprised of manufacturing and warehouse facilities, the project was finished by Columbia Construction three months ahead of schedule. The sustainably-designed expansion features an energy-efficient roof, light sensors, high-efficiency equipment motors, and a water recharge system.

Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend (IUSM-SB) and Notre Dame University broke ground on the $20 million Harper Hall in South Bend in November of 2008. The 55,000-sf project will house medical education facilities, offices, and 28 cancer research laboratories for IUSM-SB and the University of Notre Dame. The building will connect on three levels to the existing Raclin-Carmichael Hall, which houses IUSM-SB and Notre Dame’s Keck Center for Transgene Research.

Texas A&M University dedicated its new health science campus in Round Rock in November of 2008. The first 130,000-sf facility will open in fall of 2009. The building will house space for clinical instruction and a simulation center for medical skills training.

The Marine Biological Laboratory will begin construction in March of 2009 on a $25 million renovation of the three-story Loeb Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. Designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, the project will create research space for regenerative biology and medicine. The general contractor is Shawmut Construction. Completion is slated for June of 2010.

The University of Oxford opened its £20 million Biomedical Sciences Building in the United Kingdom in November of 2008. Construction began on the animal research laboratory in 2003. Full research operations will commence in mid-2009. The facility primarily houses mice; 98 percent of the animals in the building are rodents with a small amount of fish, frogs, ferrets, and nonhuman primates.

The University of Missouri-Columbia dedicated its $18 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory on November 15, 2008. Located adjacent to the Veterinary Medicine Complex, the 23,000-gsf BSL-3 facility contains 9,768 sf of research space for the study of zoonotic pathogens and emerging infectious diseases. The project was designed by PGAV (Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets) with Merrick & Company as MEP/FP/biocontainment consultant and George Butler Associates as commissioning consultant.

The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) opened its 36,000-sf Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory in New York City in November of 2008. Located in Brooklyn, the translational research project will anchor a planned 500,000-sf bioscience industry complex in the redeveloped Brooklyn Army Terminal. IAVI’s Design Lab will support AIDS vaccine research and is affiliated with the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center. The $17 million lab is designed to foster industry and academic collaboration and will accommodate 40 researchers.

McLaughlin Research Institute is engaged in a $4.3 million expansion and renovation of its animal resource center at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Great Falls, Mont. The project includes the acquisition of individually ventilated cages and new cage washing and sterilization equipment. The two-story expansion will increase mouse vivarium space and will accommodate two additional biomedical research groups. A XYCLONE laser module will improve the production of gene-targeted mice to produce new mouse models for human diseases.

The University of Edinburgh is building the £7 million Centre for Systems Biology in Edinburgh, Scotland. The project began construction in January of 2008 and is slated for completion in 2009. The Centre will be housed in 900 sm in the C.H. Waddington Building, a three-story facility that will accommodate multidisciplinary laboratories and office space for research in biological sciences, informatics, and infectious diseases. The building will also house the Centre for Translational and Chemical Biology.

The Van Andel Institute is constructing a second research building on its campus in Grand Rapids, Mich. The $175 million, 240,000-sf facility was designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects of New York. The eight-story building will house neurological and translational research laboratories, the Van Andel Graduate School, and space for Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. The joint venture construction team is Owen-Ames-Kimball Company of Grand Rapids and The Hunt Construction Group.