Research and Development

Aviva Investors completed construction in April of 2026 on a 56,000-sf life sciences facility in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Located in the Chesterford Research Park, the Sidney Sussex Building houses 10 individual R&D suites that range upwards from 2,245 sf in size and offer wet labs, open office environments, and write-up areas. BCR Infinity Architects designed the flexible structure to be scaleable, providing the ability to combine units to accommodate unique tenant requirements and support growth.

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) opened the Vista Pavilion in April of 2026 as an extension to its Marquam Hill campus in Portland. Designed by NBBJ, the $650 million facility provides 128 dedicated beds for complex oncology treatment led by Knight Cancer Institute experts. Four floors are now operational, and future plans will add 56 inpatient beds as well as an entire floor for interventional radiology and imaging.

The Arkansas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is constructing a $200 million replacement facility for the state crime laboratory in North Little Rock. Driving scientific innovation and expanding capacity for the justice system, the 190,000-sf building will support advanced forensic disciplines including DNA analysis, toxicology, digital forensics, firearms examination, and other critical services.

The University of Texas at San Antonio opened San Pedro II in April of 2026 in the city’s downtown technology corridor to fuel innovation, education, and research. Designed by Gensler and OVERLAND Partners, the $131 million facility features flexible and reconfigurable spaces for the College of AI, Cyber and Computing, including classrooms, teaching labs, and meeting areas.

The University of New Mexico is engaged in a visionary renovation of the College of Pharmacy on the institution’s North Campus in Albuquerque. Designed by Vigil & Associates and Architekton, the 96,518-sf facility is undergoing a comprehensive transformation to create a sophisticated home for future pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Flexible, leading-edge classrooms and research laboratories will be accompanied by collaboration venues that bring learners, faculty, and community partners together.

Every new building is a gamble on the future, but some are bigger bets than others. These days, one of the highest-stakes wagers campus planners must make is how much to upgrade their high-performance facilities to meet tomorrow’s demand. It isn’t an easy call. Once relegated to distant basements, computer labs are now being built right in the heart of campus, a reflection of their ever-growing importance. With the number of majors that utilize high-performance computing expected to rise nationally by the end of the decade and the growing importance of cutting-edge supercomputers in recruiting the very best scholars, the overall direction is clear. But a lot can go wrong, which makes planning tomorrow’s high- performance computing facilities today very complicated and potentially risky.

LSU Health Shreveport (LSUHS) is planning to begin construction in January of 2027 on the Research Expansion Project. Designed by Flad Architects in association with Prevot Design and Sutton Beebe Babin Architects, the strategic development will create a new hub for biomedical discovery through the adaptive reuse of an existing 181,000-sf mall. The first $90 million phase of renovation will transform 92,500 sf of space to house the Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Facility.

The John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory are planning a £390 million transformation of their joint campus at the Norwich Research Park in the United Kingdom. Designed by BDP (Building Design Partnership), the Next Generation Infrastructure Programme will deliver a total of 431,000 sf of leading-edge environments for plant science and microbial research. This dynamic complex will accelerate the translation of scientific knowledge into practical solutions by leveraging shared resources, spaces, and networks.

The University of Michigan is constructing the Center for Innovation in Detroit to accelerate technology-focused research and train the next generation of skilled workers. Designed by KPF, the $250 million facility will act as a powerful engine for job creation and inclusive talent development by accommodating both degree-based offerings and instructional courses for non-students in a range of fields.

The Texas A&M University System opened the STEM Education and Research Center in March of 2026 on the RELLIS Campus in Bryan. Designed by PBK Architects, this dynamic hub for applied science unites academic programming with innovation to accelerate the translation of breakthroughs into next-generation technologies. The $43.4 million facility provides students with unique opportunities for hands-on learning as they engage in shared discovery with researchers and industry partners.

From cortisone to CAT scans, the future of medicine has often arrived first at the Mayo Clinic. The tradition continues today with the fit-up of a new headquarters for regenerative biotherapeutics adjacent to the research center’s Rochester, Minn., campus. The fourth floor of the recently built Discovery Square building, Two Discovery Square, had been earmarked originally for office space, but after COVID hit, the developer offered the opportunity to convert some of the office space to laboratory space. Mayo Clinic had been planning to build a Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics and saw an opportunity to lease the 18,000-sf space at Discovery Square and convert it for this cutting-edge biomanufacturing facility.  

CordenPharma Colorado is partnering with BioMed Realty to expand its peptide development capabilities in Boulder with the lease of a 64,000-sf facility in Flatiron Park. Located near the CDMO’s large-scale peptide manufacturing hub, the state-of-the-art building will accommodate process development and analytical services, enabling seamless integration of advanced peptide API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) creation from production to commercialization.

Clemson University opened the Advanced Materials Innovation Complex in February of 2026 in Clemson, S.C. The $130 million building is the university's most technologically advanced facility to date and will enable the workforce of the future to gain hands-on experience in next-generation manufacturing processes.

Dallas County Health and Human Services opened its new Public Health Laboratory in March of 2026. Strategically sited in the Southwestern Medical District, the $52 million facility offers state-of-the-art environments for the detection and mitigation of infectious agents and toxins. The 67,000-sf building centralizes lab services previously dispersed in several locations while significantly increasing capacity for testing, disease surveillance, and emergency response.

Carnegie Mellon University celebrated the opening of the $100 million Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) in late February of 2026. Located at Hazelwood Green, the site of a former steel mill in Pittsburgh, the 150,000-sf facility embodies the evolution of that industrial heritage by uniting programs in robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence under one roof. Perkins Eastman's vision for the three-story structure created flexible high-bay research spaces and R&D venues that can address robotic systems at different scales.