Biomedical

Novartis AG began construction in February 2006 on a new research, development, and production plant in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China. Part of the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company's global production and supply chain, the $83-million project is expected to be fully operation by year-end 2007. Novartis is also planning to expand its Beijing Novartis Pharma plant and possibly construct an additional research facility in China as part of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.

The University of South Florida (USF) will break ground in spring of 2006 on the 70,000-sf Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation at the University Research Park in Tampa. Expected to cost between $60-million and $70-million, the center will house laboratories for physician skill training, medical product development, and a virtual hospital and simulation center. The facility will bring R&D and surgical skills training together under one roof. Completion is expected in late summer to late fall of 2007.

The University of Toronto opened the 20,550-metre Terence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CCBR) in January of 2006. Designed by a joint venture of Toronto's architectsAlliance and Stuttgart, Germany-based Behnisch, Behnisch and Partner, the 12-story building contains wet and dry laboratories, research offices, three seminar rooms, a six-story garden and atrium, and mechanical operations on the seventh floor. 

The University of North Carolina has selected Turner Construction to build the 311,000-sf Core Laboratory Building at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. Financed by David Murdock and designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architecture, the five-story facility will be the first structure in a planned 350-acre biotech campus. Ground will be broken on the project in late February 2006 with completion expected in late 2007.

The University of California, San Diego will complete the expansion and renovation of the $16-million Biomedical Library in La Jolla in spring of 2006. McCarthy Building Companies is serving as construction manager and general contractor for the project, which entails the addition of 39,000 sf to the existing library, as well as renovation of the attached structure. Built in 1969 to serve 800 users, the library will nearly double in size so that services can be provided to more than 4,000 students, faculty, and visitors.

The University of California, Davis (U.C. Davis) dedicated the $20-million Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology on January 30, 2006. Located in the Oak Park Research Building in Sacramento, Calif., the 40,000-sf facility will accommodate 100 researchers from U.C. Davis and other partner institutions including U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Francisco, Stanford University, Mills College, and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

The University of Kansas will begin construction in spring 2006 on a 45,000-sf expansion of the Structural Biology Center on its Lawrence campus. Enabling the center to house one of the nation's most extensive collections of pharmaceutical compounds (specifically those intended to treat cancer), the $20-million addition will also contain laboratories, offices, and conference rooms. As the third and final phase of the center, the project is expected to reach completion in mid-2007.

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is adding approximately 750,000 sf of biomedical research space and outpatient care in a new complex named the Red and Charline McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer.

Saint Louis University will construct a $67-million research building for the School of Medicine on its midtown Saint Louis campus. The 206,000-sf facility will have a ten-story tower on the north end and will be connected at the south end to the School of Medicine by a covered walkway. The first floor will be comprised of clinical core lab space, with flexible, modular research laboratories and offices on floors two through eight.

The University of Colorado is developing its future health sciences campus at the site of the former Fitzsimons military base in Aurora, Colorado. The University will raise $203 million for educational facilities at the new campus including an eight-story office building with conference rooms; a library; classrooms; lecture halls; and facility support buildings. Totaling over 770,000 sf, the project is slated for completion in 2007.

The University of Virginia Health System is planning to construct three new facilities on its Charlottesville campus: a $25-million translational research facility with laboratories; a $15-million outpatient facility for Children's Hospital; and a $5-million clinical center accommodating cancer care. The facilities are being funded by a $45-million donation from the Ivy Foundation to further biomedical research.

The University of Georgia will open the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences in Athens, Ga., in January 2006. The 140,000-sf facility will house administrative offices for the College of Public Health, Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, Health Communications group, and the Bioimaging Resource Center. The top two floors will accommodate laboratory-based research groups including the Tropical and Emerging Global Disease group and studies in developmental biology.

The University of California, San Francisco has selected The SmithGroup and Jim Jennings Architecture to design the new Cardiovascular Research Building on its Mission Bay Campus. The 200,000-sf facility will house lab, office, and vivarium space and will connect to the planned Cancer Research Building designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects. Construction on the cardiovascular facility will begin in 2007 and reach completion in 2009. The project may cost approximately $100-million.

The first LEEDTM-certified core and shell lab building in the northeast U.S. will open at the BioSquare biomedical research complex in Boston. Designed by The Stubbins Associates and developed by Spaulding & Slye and Boston Medical Center, the 160,000-sf lab features 20,000-sf floorplates, energy efficient building systems, a shared auditorium and conference rooms, and a sophisticated security system.

The University of Texas at San Antonio opened the 10.6-million Margaret Batts Tobin Laboratory Building in November of 2005. Designed by FKP Architects, the 22,000-sf BSL-3 facility will support infectious disease research with six biology research labs, a computer media center, and a conference room. The contractor for the project was Vaughn Construction.