Research and Development

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) completed construction of the Micro Nano Research Facility in August of 2014. Located on the University City campus in Melbourne, the collaborative 13,000-sf facility provides Class 100 and Class 1,000 cleanrooms, a PCL-2 biocontainment lab, a sensor technology lab, offices, training suites, and conference rooms. The multidisciplinary project was designed by SKM Jacobs and built by Brookfield Multiplex.

Parkview Health is building the $20 million Mirro Center for Research and Education in Fort Wayne, Ind. The 82,000-sf translational research facility will accommodate clinical trials for pharmaceutical products and medical devices, as well as housing instructional space and a simulation training suite. The building will provide labs, offices, conference rooms, and an auditorium. Completion is expected in early 2015.

NASA Glenn Research Center opened the $20.5 million Mission Integration Center in Cleveland in July of 2014. The three-story, 90,000-sf facility provides collaborative research and office space to accommodate 300 employees. The project has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification and will use 30 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building. Construction began on the facility in September of 2010.

Kansas State University broke ground in July of 2014 on the Bulk Solids Innovation Center in Salina. Designed by Jones Gillam Renz Architects, the 130,000-sf facility will be the only research hub in North America for the study of bulk solids materials handling. The center is being built by Ron Fowles Construction and occupancy is expected in April of 2015.

WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG), a global provider of regulatory and ethical review services for clinical research, acquired Alliance Biosciences in July of 2014. With this addition, WCG Biosafety will be able to manage the entire continuum of biocontainment oversight, helping to ensure that research involving potentially hazardous agents and vectors complies with the appropriate regulatory requirements from laboratory design and drug discovery through clinical testing and therapeutic application.

Merck will begin construction in August of 2014 on a 430,000-sf pharmaceutical production plant in Shanghai. The $107 million facility will manufacture drugs for diabetes as well as thyroid and heart conditions. Completion is expected in 2016 and commercial production will begin in 2017.

Emerson Climate Technologies will begin construction in October of 2014 on a 40,000-sf facility located on the University of Dayton campus. The Innovation Center will support the development of advanced heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) technologies and will house up to 50 employees. The construction cost of the facility is approximately $20 million with a total project cost of between $35 million and $40 million.

The Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes (TRI) is a unique stand-alone hospital-like facility that offers rare proof that facility design can accelerate the time it takes to go from new lab discovery to patient treatment. Utilizing a core-based model that includes imaging, pharmacy, kitchen, and lab cores in one location, the facility focuses on fast-tracking functional treatments for diabetes and obesity.

iThemba Labs opened the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory in July of 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The facility is the first of its kind in Africa and will support biomedical, pharmaceutical, geological, and environmental research, as well as supporting advanced sample dating techniques for paleontology.

Purdue Pharma Manufacturing will build a 188,000-sf production plant in the Treyburn Corporate Park in Durham, N.C. The project will provide cleanrooms with epoxy-coated floors, walls, and ceilings for the manufactucture of oral solid dosage products. The facility will also include offices, labs, conference rooms, and training areas. The general contractor is KBR Building Group. The facility is part of Purdue Pharma's planned $59 million investment in the Durham site over the next three years.

The Pirbright Institute broke ground in July of 2014 on the $26 million Avian Diseases Lab in the United Kingdom. The 38,000-sf facility will provide CL-2 biocontainment space for in vitro research on infectious diseases affecting poultry and other livestock. Housing up to 90 scientists, the project will support the relocation of the Avian Viral Diseases program from Compton to Pirbright.
 

Microelectronics manufacturer Entegris completed construction in July of 2014 on the $30 million i2M Center for Advanced Materials in Bedford, Mass. An existing building was renovated to create an 80,000-sf R&D facility housing cleanrooms, labs, production and assembly space, and offices. BIM (Building Information Modeling) was leveraged in the delivery of the the project, which included installation and coordination of new building systems for HVAC, electrical, fire protection, gas detection, and laboratory utilities.

Murray State University will begin building the $36.6 million Breathitt Veterinary Center in September of 2014 in Hopkinsville, Ky. Designed by Foil Wyatt Architects & Planners, the 61,000-sf facility will open in 2016. Additionally, work will begin in February of 2015 on the $36.8 million Engineering and Physics building; completion is slated for 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.

St. John Fisher College broke ground on the $14 million Integrated Science and Health Sciences Building in July of 2014 in Rochester, N.Y. The collaborative 31,000-sf facility will provide two multipurpose labs, two 100-seat flexible classrooms, science teaching labs, faculty offices, and interdisciplinary research space. The building will also include core facilities for tissue culture, nanobiology, and aquatic research. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project and occupancy is slated for fall of 2015.