Higher Education

Houston Community College’s medical training school, Coleman College for Health Sciences, will break ground in fall of 2015 on a $120 million expansion of its campus at the Texas Medical Center. Designed by HDR Inc., the 10-story, 248,000-sf Coleman Healthcare Educational Facility will provide classrooms, clinical skills suites, simulation labs, faculty and administrative offices, an auditorium, and a student services center. The construction manager for the project is Tellepsen Builders. Completion is expected in summer of 2017.

The University of Sheffield is planning to build the $25 million Structural Dynamics Laboratory for Verification and Validation in the United Kingdom. Located in the Advanced Manufacturing Park, the facility will enable industry and academia to engage in collaborative research and development in the field of structural dynamics. Enabling full-scale testing of engineering structures, systems, and components, the project will feature a modular environmental chamber with sophisticated controls for humidity, temperature, wind speed, and weather conditions.

Muskegon Community College will renovate two historic structures to create its new engineering campus in downtown Muskegon, Mich. Designed by C2AE and MMA Architects, the project will transform the existing Muskegon Chronicle Building and the adjacent Masonic Temple into a vibrant and transparent facility for learning.

The University of Missouri opened the MU Metagenomics Center in August of 2015 in Columbia. The laboratory is located in a shared 60,000-sf facility at the Discovery Ridge Research Park and will serve as a comprehensive resource for microbiological research. Featuring advanced technologies for DNA extraction, RNA sequencing, and informatics analysis, the center will process samples of microbiota obtained from humans, animals, plants, and soil. 

SUNY Upstate Medical Center began construction in June of 2015 on the second phase of the Central New York Biotech Accelerator (CNYBAC) in Syracuse, N.Y. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the project includes the build out of the second and third floors of the facility to house the Upstate Medical Innovation and Novel Discovery Center (MIND) and the Molecular Pathology Next Generation Sequencing Lab.

Seton Hill University opened the $23 million JoAnne Woodyard Boyle Health Science Center in July of 2015 in Greensburg, Pa. Designed by MacLachlan, Cornelius and Filoni, the 52,000-sf project provides teaching and research labs, classrooms, faculty offices, and a lecture hall for the Division of Natural and Health Sciences. The center features a three-story glass atrium, a 20-table physician assistant training lab, and a gross anatomy facility.

The University of Bristol is initiating an expansion of the Queens School of Engineering in the United Kingdom. The 15,400-sf wing will provide a multipurpose teaching auditorium, an electrical engineering teaching lab, a propulsion lab, research offices, and student meeting space. The general contractor for the project is Willmott Dixon with WSP-Parsons Brinckerhoff as structural and civil engineering consultant. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2017.
 

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center will begin construction in early fall of 2015 on the $16 million Plough Center for Sterile Drug Delivery Systems in Memphis. An existing 32,000-sf facility will be renovated to support the manufacture of pharmaceutical products for clinical trials. Designed by brg3s Architects and ETFC Architects to meet GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards, the center will feature three 800-sf modular cleanroom pods created by G-CON Manufacturing.

Tsinghua University is expanding the Jinping Underground Laboratory in Liangshan, China. The project will increase the size of the lab, which is located 7,874 feet below the surface, to 1,291,000 sf. Supporting advanced research on dark matter, the expansion will allow more experiments to run concurrently in a location shielded from interfering cosmic rays. Completion is expected in late 2015. The Jinping Underground Laboratory opened in December of 2010.

The University of Florida opened the $46 million Harrell Medical Education Building in late July of 2015. Located on the Health Science Center campus in Gainesville, the four-story, 95,000-sf facility will support the College of Medicine’s interactive, team-based curriculum. The project features two 4,600-sf academic spaces designed to accommodate group learning at circular tables and a medical training center with 18 standardized patient exam rooms.

The University of Houston is expanding its Sugar Land campus with the construction of a 150,000-sf academic building. Supported by $54 million in state funding, the facility will provide classrooms for the UH College of Technology, as well as support programs in business, health science, and education. Completion is expected in 2019.

Oregon State University is planning to build a $60 million Forest Science Complex in Corvallis. The 85,000-sf project includes construction of the 20,000-sf Advanced Wood Building Products Laboratory, which will feature a strong floor for full-scale product testing, high-bay research space, and robotic manufacturing systems. An academic building supporting programs in forestry, wood science, and renewable materials will also be constructed. Both facilities will open in fall of 2017.

Colorado State University is planning to build the $47 million Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Family Equine Hospital in Fort Collins. The 180,000-sf project will provide advanced diagnostic and surgical services, and house eight biosecure isolation stalls for the treatment of horses with infectious diseases. Supporting 27 equine clinicians, the hospital will feature imaging technologies, including a high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanner. A 3 Tesla MRI will be installed in a new CSU research building adjacent to the facility.

Abu Dhabi University began building a $10 million egnineering facility in July of 2015. Designed to meet international teaching and research standards, the 99,000-sf addition will provide 30 laboratories for civil, mechanical, electrical, computer, and chemical engineering, as well as supporting programs in architecture, interior design, information technology, and aviation. The building will also house 12 classrooms, 110 faculty offices, and conference rooms. Occupancy is expected in August of 2016.

The University of Maryland is building a state-of-the-art engineering teaching and research building for the era of convergence science. It is designed to facilitate the practical integration of bioscience, medicine, and engineering to develop new biomedical devices and other health-related advancements. When it opens in 2017, the six-floor, 184,000-sf A. James Clark Hall will serve as a national center for innovation that combines engineering with biology, medicine, and information technology in support of private and government partnerships.