The U.S. Department of Energy dedicated the $9.9 million Sensitive Instrument Facility at Ames Laboratory in Iowa in May of 2016. Accommodating microscopes used in materials science and clean energy research, the building features two-foot concrete floors with vibration-dampening layers, and the six instrument bays are lined with aluminum shielding a quarter of an inch thick to create an electromagnetic barrier.
The National Institutes of Health will receive a federal funding increase of $2 billion from a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in December of 2015. Representing the largest funding increase in over a decade, the legislation will establish the NIH's annual budget at $32 billion.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory opened the $59 million Chu Hall in September of 2015. Designed by SmithGroupJJR of San Francisco, the three-story, 39,000-sf facility will support research on electrochemical and photovoltaic solar energy technologies. Chu Hall houses the administrative offices of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute as well as the northern branch of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a laboratory created in partnership with the California Institute of Technology and funded by the Department of Energy.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has selected Merrick & Company to develop the Program of Requirements (POR) for the renovation of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) in Athens, Ga. The $158 million modernization project includes new construction and renovation of existing facilities on an active, 60-year-old campus that encompasses biosafety laboratories, brooding and breeding facilities, administrative offices, and support space.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security broke ground in May of 2015 on the $835 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kan. Created in partnership with Kansas State University, the 574,000-gsf facility will provide shared BSL-2, BSL-3, and BSL-4 research space for the study of infectious diseases and select agents. The project is being built by the joint venture construction team of McCarthy/Mortenson.
Brookhaven National Laboratory celebrated the dedication of the $912 million National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) in February of 2015 in Upton, N.Y. The 627,000-sf facility houses a medium-energy electron storage ring that can produce the brightest X-ray light in the world as well as ultraviolet and infrared light. The NSL-II will support multidisciplinary research in advanced materials, nanotechnology, condensed matter, materials physics, chemistry, and biology.
NASA Langley Research Center began construction in October of 2014 on a $23 million computational laboratory in Hampton, Va. The 40,000-sf facility will provide high-density offices and a consolidated data center to support aeronautical, space exploration, and science research. The general contractor for the sustainably designed project is Turner Construction. Occupancy is expected in August of 2016.
The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory uses hardware-in-the-loop prototyping at the low- to mega-watt-scale power capability to develop and validate the next generation of energy production and infrastructure, giving NREL and its strategic industry partners the opportunity to evaluate how technologies will work together in a real-world environment. The primary focus of ESIF is micro grid/smart grid research. The building houses 200 scientists and engineers in a private, public-sector, and academic partnership.
The U.S. Department of Energy broke ground on the $10 million Sensitive Instrument Facility at the Ames Laboratory in Iowa in June of 2014. Located in the Applied Sciences complex near Iowa State University, the 13,300-sf materials science research lab will house advanced electron and scanning probe microscopes in six laboratory bays built to mitigate vibration and electromagnetic interference. The design team includes M+W Zander, Sears Gerber Architecture, and Snyder & Associates.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Washburn University broke ground in April of 2014 on the $55 million KBI Forensic Science Center in Topeka. The three-story, 100,000-sf facility will house the state crime laboratory and space for the departments of chemistry, toxicology, biology, DNA, firearm/tool mark, trace evidence, latent prints, and digital forensics. Supporting Washburn University’s programs in forensic chemical science, criminal justice, and forensic anthropology, the building will include classrooms, labs, and offices.
The National Institutes of Health dedicated the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center in late March of 2014 in Bethesda, Md. Comprised of two buildings connected by a glass atrium, the collaborative 500,000-sf facility provides open laboratories, offices, and an advanced MRI suite for researchers from 10 NIH neuroscience institutes and centers. Construction on the first building began in 2001 and was completed in 2004.
The Department of Energy will begin construction in April of 2014 on a $10 million research facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The project will be designed and built by DGR Grant Construction in collaboration with Meier Architecture & Engineering. The 22,000-sf facility will provide labs, computational space, and offices to support research on power grid dynamics and renewable energy technologies, as well as housing PNNL's Building Operations Control Center and sustainability program.
Construction will begin in early 2014 on the $50 million Water Campus in Baton Rouge, La. The 30-acre development will provide research, engineering, and administrative facilities for government agencies, academic institutions, and industry partners. The first phase of construction will feature Louisianna State University's 50,000-sf River Modeling Center which will include a small scale representation of the lower Mississippi River.
The new Consolidated Forensic Laboratory (CFL) in the heart of Washington, D.C., not only merges the physical environs of three city public safety agencies—public health, the chief medical examiner, and the forensics labs—but also creates a new dynamic for interagency cooperation. Co-location in the 351,000-sf, six-story, state-of-the-art facility allows the city to upgrade all three agencies cost effectively while improving the science, efficiency, and integrity of the work performed there. The efficiency extends to the building systems, with the CFL achieving LEED Platinum.
The State of Washington’s Department of Enterprise Services (DES) has selected AssetWorks' AiM platform to serve as the statewide facilities inventory system. DES is expected to leverage AiM to capture, manage, and report on relevant facility inventory data for both owned and leased facilities. This data in turn is expected to be used by the state’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) to conduct in-depth analysis, long-term planning, and ongoing management of the state’s facilities portfolio.
