Higher Education

The University of Virginia dedicated the McIntire School of Commerce in Charlottesville in May of 2008. Construction manager Gilbane Building Company partnered with architect Hartman-Cox on the 138,000-sf construction/renovation project which included a 114,000-sf addition to Rouss Hall named Robertson Hall. Rouss was also renovated and consolidated with the new addition to form a single building to accommodate the McIntire School of Commerce.

Paris Sorbonne University is developing a campus on a greenfield site on Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi. The Al Habtoor Leighton Group, in joint venture with Murray and Roberts, has been awarded a $350 million contract to design and construct the project for Mubadala Development Company. A 93,000-sm academic building is slated for completion in August of 2010 and will house two lecture wings, a library, an auditorium, administration, and dining.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University will open the $200 million Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine on its Bronx campus in New York in June of 2008. The 201,000-sf, five-story facility is located in the Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion and houses 40 laboratories, research support space, and a 100-seat auditorium.

The University of New England celebrated the groundbreaking of Peter and Cecile Morgane Hall in Biddeford, Maine, on May 9, 2008. The academic facility will house undergraduate classrooms and teaching labs for biology and chemistry. Occupancy is slated for the spring semester of 2009.

Whitworth University will begin construction in late spring of 2009 on a $37 million science center in Spokane, Wash. The three-story, 63,000-sf facility will house labs, classrooms, and offices for the departments of biology and chemistry. Completion is expected by fall of 2010. The facility is part of a $53 million project to upgrade and expand Whitworth’s science facilities. The second phase is comprised of a $16 million, 16,000-sf addition to the existing Johnston Center slated for completion in 2011.

Indiana University Bloomington approved seven construction projects in May of 2008, for a total of 13 capital projects on campus (planned or under way) totaling $340 million. The recently approved projects include:

Butler University broke ground on a $14 million pharmacy and health sciences addition in Indianapolis, Ind., on May 8, 2008. Housing classrooms, project rooms, laboratories, and faculty offices, the 40,000-sf facility is expected to attain LEED Silver certification. Sustainable design elements will include waterless urinals, natural lighting, and heat recovery. The project includes renovation of two pharmacy instructional labs in the existing College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences facility.

The University of California, Berkeley has selected contractor McCarthy to build the $160 million Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences. Accommodating research into the molecular basis for disease, the facility will focus on infectious diseases, gene regulation, stem cell biology, and neurodegenerative diseases. The project architect is Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership. Construction is slated to begin in 2008 and reach completion in 2011.

Florida Atlantic University will break ground in fall of 2008 on a new College of Engineering facility in Boca Raton. Part of a planned 250,000-sf College of Engineering complex, the first phase will house between 80,000-sf and 100,000-sf of classroom, laboratory, computing, and administrative space. The project architect is Schwab, Twitty & Hanser with James A. Cummings Inc. as construction manager. Green Building Services is providing LEED consultation. The facility is expected to reach LEED Platinum certification.

The University of California, San Francisco broke ground on the $254 million Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) on May 7, 2008. Located on the University’s Mission Bay campus, the 232,000-sf collaborative facility will house biomedical research laboratories and an outpatient clinic. Occupancy is slated for 2011.

Texas A&M University opened the R. Ken Williams '45 Radiogenic Isotope Geosciences Laboratory on May 3, 2008 in College Station. The facility began construction in October 2007 and houses interdisciplinary research space for the College of Geosciences. Accommodating the disciplines of geochronology, tectonics, paleoceanography, environmental geochemistry, and climate-change research, the facility contains Class 1000 and Class 100 chemistry laboratories, a mass spectrometry lab, a sample prep lab, and faculty offices.

Florida State University opened the $72 million Chemical Sciences Laboratory in Tallahassee on May 2, 2008. Housing education and research space, the 168,000-sf, five-story building will accommodate approximately 250 researchers. The building has a total of 145 fume hoods and includes core research facilities, a 160-seat lecture hall, flexible laboratories, and synthetic organic chemistry labs. The facility will enable FSU to expand research programs in the molecular sciences.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground on the $150 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery in Madison on May 2, 2008. The 300,000-sf interdisciplinary biomedical research building will be comprised of four stories above ground and one below, and will house research offices, an atrium, and flexible dry, wet, and combination laboratories. The collaborative public-private research project will accommodate biotechnology, health science, nanotechnology, engineering, and stem cell research.

The College of William and Mary is planning to construct a $4.3 million seawater research facility at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Eastern Shore Laboratory in Wachapreague, Va.  The facility will house environmentally controlled laboratory space and will provide investigators with running seawater for research in marine ecology and aquaculture in the high-salinity environment of the coastal ocean.

James Madison University will initiate the planning phase for Centennial Hall in July of 2008. Sited on the university’s campus in Harrisonburg, Va., the biotechnology building will house life sciences instruction and research. The facility will be operated in partnership with SRI International and other Virginian educational institutions. Completion is expected in 2011.