Government

Natural Resources Canada broke ground on the new CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory in Hamilton, Ontario, in December of 2008. Located in the McMaster Innovation Park, the LEED-certified facility will accommodate research and development in structural metals and alloys, materials design, pilot-scale processing, and performance evaluation. CANMET-MTL is a Government of Canada laboratory previously located in Ottawa. The new facility, created in partnership with McMaster University, will open in 2010.

Jackson State University opened the Center for the Study of Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management in November of 2008. Located in Jackson, Miss., the facility will enable the Department of Homeland Security to research solutions for protecting at-risk infrastructure, improving communication, and enhancing recovery efforts in response to natural disasters.

The Department of Energy is constructing the $224 million Physical Sciences Facility for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The three-building, 200,000-sf project includes facilities for radiation detection, materials science and technology, and nuclear and chemical weapons compliance testing. Ground was broken on the project in August of 2007 with construction commencing in August of 2008. Completion is expected in 2010.

The Centers for Disease Control will initiate construction in January of 2009 on the second phase of the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases facility in Fort Collins, Colo. The first 165,000-sf phase, representing 80 percent of the completed project, broke ground in August of 2004 and reached completion in May of 2007. Phase two is comprised of the completion of the fourth floor of the facility and is slated for completion in early 2010.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded the joint venture construction firm of Clark/Hunt a $364.9 million contract to build a 790,000-sf medical center in Las Vegas, Nev. Slated for completion by September 2011, the project will include 90 hospital beds, surgical suites, laboratories, nuclear medicine, and an MRI. The sustainably-designed hospital will provide inpatient care, ambulatory care, and mental health services. A separate nursing home and ancillary structures will also be built on the 150-acre campus.

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has received $310 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to upgrade the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Va. The project includes construction of a new experimental hall and the renovation of the three existing experimental halls, as well as increasing the accelerated electron beam to 12 billion electron volts. Completion is slated for 2015.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will dedicate the National Biodefense Analysis & Countermeasures Center (NBACC) on October 22, 2008. Part of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., NBACC will support biological threat characterization and bioforensic research. The 160,000-sf lab will employ approximately 120 people and will include a vivarium and BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratories.

Maricopa County is constructing a 675,000-sf tower addition to its criminal justice complex in Phoenix, Arizona. Designed by Gould Evans with building systems engineered by Syska Hennessy Group, the 17-story building is slated for completion in 2011. Providing 32 additional courtrooms, secure judicial chambers, office areas and support spaces, the flexible building will feature floor-by-floor air handing units for improved system performance and indoor air quality.

The State of California is implementing an $8 billion hospital construction program at state prisons. The joint venture program management team is comprised of URS Corp. and Bovis Lend Lease. Featuring integrated project delivery principles and lean construction methodology, the project includes construction of seven California prison hospitals by 2014.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is initiating an $89 million steam plant renovation to create a biomass-fueled plant utilizing wood and wood products. The biomass plant will create an annual savings of $8.7 million on water and energy costs with return on investment expected in 11 years. The project is one of four energy-saving performance contracts announced by the Department of Energy, with similar projects occurring at Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pennsylvania.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will construct a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) tissue laboratory for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Located in the Richard Dean Biomedical Research Building in Piedmont Triad Research Park, the facility will support the creation of tissues and engineered organs for the rehabilitation of soldiers. The facility is created in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a multi-institutional consortium of research centers.

Virginia Tech is planning to construct a $90 million research center in the Ballston area of Arlington. Strategically located near the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the seven-story, 144,000-sf facility is slated for occupancy in late 2010. The center will house 250 faculty, staff, and graduate students engaged in bioinformatics, public health, and medical informatics research, as well as the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science.

NASA is constructing the $40 million, five-story Research and Development Administration Building at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 120,000-sf facility is funded by the state of Louisiana through the University of New Orleans Research & Technical Foundation and the Louisiana Office of Economic Development as part of a long-term partnership agreement with NASA. It will contain administrative offices, a conference center, and collaborative R&D space for partner organizations including the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

Pacific Northwest National Lab broke ground on two research facilities in Richland, Wash., in June of 2008. The 73,000-sf Biological Sciences Facility will be connected to the 75,000-sf Computational Sciences Facility by a two-story atrium. The construction cost for the two buildings, which will house approximately 310 employees, is $75 million. The project team is comprised of KMD Architects of San Francisco and D.E. Harvey Builders of Houston.

Idaho National Laboratory has selected CH Construction to build the new $4 million Common Support Building (CSB) at the Advanced Test Reactor Complex west of Idaho Falls. Accommodating 80 employees, the 16,400-sf sustainably-designed facility will feature advanced HVAC and lighting systems.