Research and Development

The University of Western Ontario opened the 12,000-sf Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research in November of 2012 in London, Ontario. Located in the Advanced Manufacturing Park, the $25 million facility provides an industry-scale production environment for developing, testing, validating, and characterizing new lightweight materials and advanced manufacturing processes. The center features a Dieffenbacher material press with a clamping force of 2,500 tons. 

The University at Albany is planning to build the 200,000-sf Zero-Energy Nanotechnology (ZEN) building. A request for proposals was issued in November of 2012 with responses due by January 4, 2013. The cost of the facility is estimated at $80 million. Acting as a living laboratory, the ZEN building will provide labs, classrooms, and offices for clean energy research as well as housing the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium. The facility will have a net energy consumption of zero while supporting a robust technological infrastructure.

The $168 million Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center opened in November of 2012 in Holyoke. Representing a partnership of MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts, the collaborative 90,000-sf data center supports computational research, software development, and the creation of exascale computer technology. Exascale computing systems would be capable of reaching at least one exaflops, representing a thousandfold increase over petascale systems.

Texas Tech is building the $22.8 million Petroleum Engineering and Research Building in Lubbock. Designed by Kirksey Architecture, the 40,000-sf facility will provide research laboratories and classrooms for the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering, including the unconventional technology center; a fracturing techniques suite; a fluids lab; a reservoir simulation center and drilling lab; a rheology lab; and a pressure volume temperature lab. The building will also house the Apache Upstream Research Center.

The University of North Carolina dedicated the $76 million Energy Production and Infrastructure Center in November of 2012 in Charlotte. Designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architects, the 200,000-sf teaching and research facility houses the departments of Electrical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering. The collaborative four-story building provides classrooms, offices, laboratories, and high bay space. General contractor Turner Construction broke ground on the project in February of 2010.

BASF is building a $64 million research and development facility at its existing campus in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The 46,000-sf laboratory building will support collaborative materials science and chemistry research. The sustainably designed facility will utilize innovative construction materials including high performance foams and engineered flooring surfaces. Occupancy is expected in mid-2015.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology opened the $80 Design Hub in November of 2012. The collaborative facility will support applied research in architecture, creative media, game design, engineering, landscape architecture, industrial design, textiles and fashion design, interior design, and urban design. RMIT is also building the $6.5 million, 10,763-sf Micro Nano Research Facility housing Class 100 and Class 10,000 cleanrooms; occupancy is expected in November of 2013.

The University of Oklahoma broke ground on the $15 million Radar Innovations Lab in October of 2012. Located on the OU Research Campus in Norman, the collaborative 35,000-sf facility will feature high bay laboratory space, prototyping fabrication areas, a testing suite, and two precision anechoic chambers. Completion is expected in fall of 2013.

Gilead Sciences is planning to begin construction in early 2013 on a 45,000-sf research and development facility in Edmonton, Alberta. Located in the Eco Industrial Business Park, the three-story building will provide offices and laboratories for process chemistry and analytical drug discovery. The facility will be designed by Manasc Isaac Architects to accommodate 80 researchers.

The University of Hawaii is planning to build the $47.5 Pacific Health Research Lab in Kalaeloa in West Oahu. The 31,000-sf facility will provide biocontainment laboratories for the study of emerging infectious diseases. The project will be a Regional Biosafety Laboratory and is supported by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Queen's University Belfast is building the $51 million Centre for Experimental Medicine in the United Kingdom. The four-story facility will support research in genetics, diabetes, and degenerative eye diseases. The facility is located at Belfast City Hospital. Occupancy is expected in 2016.

Grand Valley State University is planning to build a $55 million biology building in Allendale, Mich. Designed by Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber, the 144,000-sf facility will provide smart classrooms, teaching and research labs, and faculty offices. The laboratory programming and design consultant for the project is RFD (Research Facilities Design) and the construction manager is Pioneer Construction. Completion is expected in fall of 2015.

When the Institute for Animal Health in Pirbright, U.K., launched a significant upgrade of aging infrastructure to improve health- and safety-related systems at its high-level containment facilities, project leaders undertook a benchmarking process to determine how much the upgrades would cost to operate and how Pirbright's organizational structure compared with similar facilities in preparing to meet long-range goals.

Eli Lilly will begin construction in late 2012 on a $140 million expansion of its Indianapolis pharmaceutical manufacturing campus. The 80,000-sf addition will support the production of insulin cartridges. Completion is expected in March of 2014 with operations beginning in 2015. 

The University of Hawaii at Manoa is building the $103 million Cancer Research Center in Honolulu. Designed by Shimokawa Nakamura in partnership with ZGF Architects and Jacobs Consultancy, the five-story, 150,000-sf facility will provide advanced biomedical research laboratories and offices. The lead contractor is A.C. Kobayashi Construction of Honolulu. Ground was broken on the project in October of 2010 and occupancy is expected in February of 2013.