Research and Development

The National University of Ireland, Galway opened a $57.3 million engineering facility in July of 2011. Ground was broken on the project in October of 2009. The four-story, 153,385-sf building provides classrooms, lecture halls, faculty offices, and 36 laboratories. The sustainably designed facility is constructed with a voided slab system which integrates plastic bubbles into the concrete used in the structure. The building is designed to act as a teaching tool and includes heat exchangers, a biomass boiler, and grass roofs.

Cargill opened its $14.7 million research and development facility in July of 2011 in Wichita, Kan. Housing research labs, offices, and product development space, the 75,000-sf food science innovation center will house 70 employees. Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, as well as agricultural, financial, and industrial products and services.

NanoSonic Products opened its new cGMP manufacturing facility in July of 2011 in Alachua, Fla. The renovated and expanded building will support the production of cyclodextrin by NanoSonic's proprietary pulse drying process. All of the facility's energy requirements will be met by photovoltaic panels. The technologies and systems used in the manufacturing process are designed for maximum energy efficiency.

The University of Sheffield will begin construction in November of 2011 on the $34 million Engineering Graduate School in Sheffield, United Kingdom. The facility will support interdisciplinary collaboration with advanced research labs and teaching facilities. The project also includes renovation and expansion of existing facilities to create technology-rich lecture halls and classrooms. Completion is expected by August of 2013.

The University of Utah is engaged in a $46 million expansion of the Neuropsychiatric Institute in Salt Lake City. The 115,000-sf project will provide additional research space, 72 private patient rooms, a clinical assessment center, and a Siemens 3 Tesla MRI suite. Completion is expected in fall of 2011.

Sandia Labs is engaged in a $4.2 million renovation of the Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M. Supported by federal stimulus funding, the project will enable the facility to test larger batteries for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The completed laboratory will house new spectrometers, laser diagnostics, and six accelerating rate calorimeters. Construction began on the renovation in December of 2010 with completion expected in late 2011. The Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory was built in 1991. 

King Fahd University is planning to build a $150 million research facility in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Designed by Kornberg Associates, the 120,000-sf building will house core lab space with advanced instrumentation for materials testing and analysis. The collaborative facility will be used by multiple departments as well as industry clients. 

The University of Pretoria completed the $58.8 million Engineering III facility in July of 2011. Located on the Hatfield campus in Pretoria, Gauteng, the building houses 17 labs, two 500-seat lecture halls, four 200-seat lecture halls, a 450-seat auditorium, 41 faculty offices, 25 postgraduate offices, conference rooms, and a parking garage. Construction began on the facility in September of 2009. The project was designed and managed by ARC Architects with Aurecon as engineering consultant.

Animal health company Laboratorios Hipra is planning to build a vaccine production laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Located in the Iowa State University Research Park, the facility will act as Laboratorios Hipra’s U.S. headquarters. Construction on the 100,000-sf project will begin in 2011 with production commencing in early 2013.

The University of Washington broke ground on an 183,000-sf biomedical research facility in Seattle in July of 2011. The laboratory building will house 400 investigators and is slated for completion in spring of 2013. The project will support immunology, rheumatology, vision sciences, kidney research, and infectious disease research. The facility is the first of three to be constructed as part of a third phase of construction at UW Medicine’s South Lake Union campus, which will provide 542,000 sf of lab and office space at a cost of $360 million.

SANYO North America Corporation Biomedical Solutions Division and BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), have announced a strategic agreement to jointly promote cutting-edge life science research tools designed to advance cell culture and cell therapy research. The goals of this collaboration are to develop long-term and short-term co-marketing programs, as well as to research innovative ways to combine product technologies and offerings to serve both current and untapped market applications.

The University of Oregon will begin construction in summer of 2011 on a $17 million, 80,000-sf facility in the Riverfront Research Park in Portland. The building will house the Oregon Research Institute and the Education Policy Improvement Center as well as space for industry tenants. The project will be developed, built, operated, and leased by Trammell Crow. 

Algoma University opened the Bioscience and Technology Convergence Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, in July of 2011. Promoting the development of industry partnerships for the commercialization of research discoveries, the $21.4 million business incubator will provide laboratory and office space for bioscience companies. The sustainably designed facility is LEED certified.

The Center for Childhood Cancer Research opened the 20,000-sf Jensen Laboratory in July of 2011 in Seattle. The facility will feature research laboratories and an on-site therapeutics manufacturing facility for the production of customized immune cells for individualized cancer treatment. The laboratory is affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital.

The University of North Texas (UNT) broke ground on the Zero Energy Research Laboratory in Denton in July of 2011. Located in UNT’s Discovery Park, the 1,200-sf facility will include a utility core and an open flexible laboratory for sustainable energy and building systems research. The $1.15 million project is expected to reach completion in early 2012. Jacobs Engineering Group is the architect of record and the general contractor is Nouveau Construction.