Chemical

Texas Tech dedicated the $22.8 million Terry Fuller Petroleum Engineering Research Building in Lubbock in February of 2014. Housing the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering, the 43,000-sf facility features integrated teaching and research labs, smart classrooms, a fracturing techniques suite, a fluids lab, a rheology lab, a pressure volume temperature lab, and a reservoir simulation center and drilling lab. The project was designed by Kirksey Architecture and built by Vaughn Construction.

The University of Nottingham began construction in October of 2013 on the $32 million Centre for Sustainable Chemistry in the United Kingdom. Designed by Fairhursts Design Group and created in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, the 48,000-sf carbon-neutral building will provide research labs, a teaching lab, and instrumentation suites. The facility will be located in the University's Innovation Park and will accommodate 100 investigators.

BASF celebrated the opening of its new plant science facilities in Research Triangle Park, N.C., in September of 2013. The $33 million expansion includes 80,000 sf of office, laboratory, and greenhouse space. The project features a climate-controlled greenhouse, laboratories for plant biotechnology research, and an environmentally-controlled insect production facility. BASF is based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, with the 480,000-sf Research Triangle Park campus serving as the company's U.S. headquarters.

Non-residential construction volumes and pricing continued their upward trend in the second quarter, with prices increasing an average of 2 to 4 percent in the first half of 2013. These factors, along with growing market confidence and a narrowing labor supply, will continue to push new construction costs closer to the trend line for the near to medium term.

Continued signs of stable economic growth indicate that the recovery is gaining momentum in many parts of the United States and Canada. Construction selling prices for institutional projects grew at a 6 percent annualized rate in 2012, on top of a 3 percent increase in 2011. Construction costs are expected to continue stabilizing and rising in many regions as market confidence and capital spending increase.

Chemical manufacturer BASF is relocating its North American headquarters to a planned $100 million office building in Florham Park, N.J. The five-story, 325,000-sf facility will be built to attain a minimum of LEED Gold sustainable design certification and will accommodate approximately 1,200 employees. Rockefeller Group Development Corp. will begin construction on the project in July of 2010 with completion expected in mid-2012.

The Dow Chemical Company will begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2010 on a $17 million emulsion plant in Zhangjiagang, China. Supporting Dow’s expansion in the Chinese coatings market, the facility will begin production in late 2011.

Pioneer Hi-Bred will begin construction in April of 2010 on a new research facility in Hermiston, Ore. The project will enable Pioneer to expand its agricultural R&D operations with a focus on the creation of corn hybrid products. Pioneer Hi-Bred is a DuPont business based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Monsanto broke ground in March of 2010 on a $2.4 million corn breeding station in Flora, Miss. The 26,000-sf facility is located in the Flora Industrial Park and will support research on corn hybrids. The project team includes developer Southeast Industrial Properties and general contractor Peoples Construction Corp.

Hemlock Semiconductor Corp., a subsidiary of Dow Corning, will initiate a $1 billion expansion of its manufacturing complex in Saginaw, Mich., in 2009. The project will support the production of monosilane gas, a component of liquid crystal displays and thin film solar cells. Completion is slated for 2011. Hemlock Semiconductor will also build a $1.2 billion facility in Clarksville, Tenn.

Philadelphia-based FMC Corp. is relocating to 117,000-sf of laboratory, office, and greenhouse space in Ewing, N.J., in fall of 2009. The research and development facility, sited on 26 acres in the PrincetonSouth Corporate Center, is being developed by Opus East. The building will house 230 scientists, lab technicians, and administrative personnel. FMC Corp. manufactures industrial and agricultural chemicals.

Bayer will initiate construction by year-end 2008 on a toluene diisocyanate (TDI) manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China. The facility will begin operations in 2010 with a manufacturing capacity of 700,000 tons per year. TDI is a raw material for the production of polyurethane foam. Bayer, headquartered in Frankfurt, will invest US$3.1 billion in its Shanghai campus by 2012.

Dow Water Solutions, part of The Dow Chemical Company, will construct the Water Technology Development Center in Tarragona, Spain. The $15 million facility will support research and development for Dow's membrane, ultrafiltration, and desalination technologies to create sustainable water supplies. The center is slated for occupancy by year-end 2009 and will house 25 researchers. Acciona Agua will design and build the facility.

SAFC, a custom chemical manufacturing unit of Sigma Aldrich, has completed a $12-million expansion of its Madison, Wisc., facility. The Advanced Pharma Intermediates (API) building was expanded by 38,000 sf, more than doubling the existing 23,500-sf facility and its cGMP manufacturing capabilities. The two-story project added three new kilo laboratories, increased storage and warehouse space, and expanded SAFC's R&D laboratores to eight. The facility will begin commercial operations when it officially opens in March.

Celanese Corp. is relocating its global headquarters to Farmers Branch, Texas from Frankfurt, Germany. The industrial chemicals company has leased an additional 30,000 sf of office space for 12 years at its existing 185,000-sf Dallas-area site. The expansion, slated for completion by December 2005, will accommodate up to 100 relocated positions, as well as headquarters operations for the company's acetate division, previously located in South Carolina.