Research and Development

The Institute for Business & Home Safety celebrated the opening of the $27 million Insurance Center for Building Safety Research in October of 2010. Located in Chester, S.C., the multi-hazard research complex enables model structures to be tested in conditions resembling natural catastrophes to identify effective methods of minimizing risk and loss to homes and businesses. Designed by Odell Associates of Charlotte, N.C., the facility includes a 21,000-sf test chamber, a secondary research building, and a conference center.

The University of California, Los Angles will begin construction in fall of 2011 on the $30 million Western Institute of Nanotechnology on Green Engineering and Metrology. Providing 35,000 sf of laboratory space on four floors, the facility will support research and instruction for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. The building will also house the Center on Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics and the Energy Frontier Research Center on Molecularly Engineered Energy Materials.

Colorado State University will break ground on a $69 million facility for the School of Biomedical Engineering in April of 2011. Located in Fort Collins, the 122,000-sf Engineering II facility will house multidisciplinary research laboratories and instructional space. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the project. Completion is expected in fall of 2012.

Becton, Dickinson and Company opened the $59 million BD Biosciences - Advanced Bioprocessing AF2™ Production Facility in October of 2010 in Miami. The facility is the industry’s first fully dedicated, stand-alone “antibiotic-free” and “animal-free” facility for producing high-quality cell culture media and supplements that are used in the production of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. BD invested more than $20 million in renovating 90,000 sf at the former IVAX Pharmaceuticals building in North Miami.

Algenol Biofuels opened its 40,000-sf R&D headquarters facility in October of 2010 in Lee County, Fla. Housing chemistry labs and six specialized growth chambers, the facility will support the creation of ethanol and other green chemicals from algae. A biorefinery will also be constructed at the site.

Ground was broken in October of 2010 on the $8 million Sustainable Energy Technology Center (SenTec) in Danville, Va. The 25,000-sf facility will promote the development of biofuels with research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research spaces, and faculty offices. The building is located on the campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The lead design architect for the project is Dewberry with Lord, Aeck & Sargent as laboratory design architect and sustainability consultant.

Lawrence Technological University will begin construction in January of 2011 on a $1.6 million renovation of its life sciences research laboratories in Southfield, Mich. The completed facility will include a chemistry lab, a molecular and cell biology lab, and an instrumentation room. The project is supported by $1.3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation. Completion is expected in fall of 2011.

Binghamton University broke ground on the $30 million New York State Center of Excellence in Small Scale Systems Integration and Packaging (S3IP) in October of 2010. Housing laboratory space, offices, and a symposium hall, the 114,000-sf facility will connect the Biotechnology and Engineering buildings as part of the Innovative Technologies Complex. The center will promote collaborative research in microelectronics with industry partners. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project.

The University of North Texas will begin construction on the Nanofabrication Analysis and Research Facility in November of 2010. Located in Denton at Discovery Park, the $6.4 million project will support research in nanotechnology and materials science with 10 laboratories housing advanced instrumentation. The project is supported by $1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.

Clarian Health will break ground in November of 2010 on a $192 million research complex in Indianapolis. Occupying nearly six blocks, the five-building project includes construction of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence and administrative offices. Occupancy is expected in 2012. The project developer is Shiel Sexton.

SAFC completed a 50,000-sf expansion of its Jerusalem bioprocessing facility in October of 2010. The project houses cGMP fermentation suites for the production of recombinant proteins and small molecules. The expansion includes a 30,000-sf BSL-2 facility. 

The University of California, Los Angeles opened the 9,700-sf Integrated Systems Nanofabrication Cleanroom (ISNC) at the California Nanosystems Institute in October of 2010. Providing Class 100 and Class 1,000 research space for the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine, the facility features two integrated bio-suite bays for work with biological samples. The ISNC houses $8 million in equipment, including an electron beam writer and an ASML optical stepper.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa will break ground on the $120 million Cancer Research Center on October 28, 2020. Located in the Kakaako area of Honolulu, the six-story, 150,000-sf facility will house advanced biomedical research laboratories and offices. The building was designed by Shimokawa Nakamura of Honolulu in partnership with ZGF Architects of Los Angeles and Jacobs Consultancy of New York. The lead contractor is A.C. Kobayashi Construction of Honolulu.

The Hospital for Sick Children is constructing the $400 million Research & Learning Tower Toronto. The 21-story, 750,000-sf facility was designed by Diamond & Schmitt Architects and HDR with EllisDon as general contractor. Housing interdisciplinary research labs, instructional space, and conference rooms, the sustainably designed tower will be built to attain LEED Gold certification. The facility will feature open, flexible labs for team research with a mixture of wet and dry benches to promote collaboration.

The University of Louisville dedicated the $44 million Center for Predictive Medicine in October of 2010. Located on the ShelbyHurst research park in East Louisville, the 50,000-sf project is an NIH-funded Regional Biodefense Laboratory and houses BSL-3 facilities for the study of emerging infectious diseases. The facility was built by Messer of Cincinnati with International Commissioning Engineers as commissioning agent. Ground was broken on the facility in 2006.