Research and Development

CHU Sainte-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital Center is initiating a $995 million modernization of its Montreal facility. The existing hospital will be extensively renovated and two new buildings will be constructed. The first facility will house medical research and the second will provide an intensive care unit, a birthing center, a neonatal unit, and specialty care. The project will add a total of 419 beds. Construction will begin on the new facilities in 2011 and reach completion in 2016.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture broke ground on the second phase of construction at the ARS Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC) in August of 2010 in Hilo, Hawaii. Phase 2 will support research on exotic tropical crops, alternative energy sources, and sustainable agriculture with additional offices, screen houses, and head houses.

The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI) will open its 440,000-sf research facility in Houston in October of 2010. Housing 90 principal investigators and 800 staff, the interdisciplinary facility will include a GMP bioprocessing facility and an infectious disease research lab.

Networking solutions provider Brocade opened its 75,000-sf R&D laboratory and data center in August of 2010 in San Jose, Calif. Five engineering labs and three data centers were consolidated with the new facility, resulting in a 37 percent reduction in energy consumption and eliminating 4,450 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The data center has a calculated Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric of 1.3, while comparable data centers usually have a PUE greater than 1.5.

A new Canadian biorefining technology has been adopted by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a recommended technology for the destruction of all transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and microbiological disease agents. The 175 member countries of the OIE formally approved the technology at the 78th General Session held in Paris in May of 2010 for incorporation into the 2010 Terrestrial Animal Health Code.

Oregon Health and Science University will build two research support facilities at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Portland, Ore. Supported by $4 million in federal stimulus funding, the project includes outdoor group housing for non-human primates and a 2,344-nsf clinic and hospital facility.

The University of New South Wales broke ground in August of 2010 on the $125 million Tyree Energy Technologies Building in Sydney, Australia. The facility will support research in photovoltaics, carbon capture and storage, oil and gas reserves, nanomaterials, energy policy, and market analysis. Accommodating 300 engineering students and 100 staff members, the sustainably-designed building will include a roof-mounted solar panel array and a gas-fired tri-generation plant for power, heating, and cooling.

Fitchburg State University is planning a $42 million expansion of Condike Science Center in Fitchburg, Mass. The 54,700-sf addition will house classrooms and teaching and research labs for biology and chemistry. The existing science center will be renovated to provide faculty offices and classrooms for physics and geophysical sciences.

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine is expanding its Drug Discovery Core Facility in Hershey. Supported by $2.78 million federal stimulus funding, the project includes renovation of 6,600 sf on the second floor of the Biomedical Research Building. Consolidating and integrating shared resources for research, the project will provide contiguous offices with dedicated data analysis workstations as well as communal space for faculty and student users.

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation will build out two floors of shell space in its existing 186,000-sf tower in Oklahoma City to house translational research on immune-based human disease. Supported by $7 million in stimulus funding, the project will include a 3,400-sf cryostorage facility, clinical space, and 16,600 sf of biomedical research laboratories.

The University of Queensland opened the $100 million School of Veterinary Science in Gatton in August of 2010. The teaching and research complex includes the Veterinary Science Building, the UQ Veterinary Medical Centre Pre-Clinical Teaching Laboratories, the Veterinary Clinical Studies Building, and the Equine and Companion Animal Hospitals. The school will accommodate 550 veterinary science students.

The USDA Forest Service opened the $38 million Centennial Research Facility in June of 2010. Located at the Forest Products Research Laboratory in Madison, Wis., the 87,000-sf facility houses state-of-the-art equipment and research laboratories. Designed to promote collaboration between scientists and industry partners, the facility is located on the west side of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and includes a business incubator. The construction contractor for the project was Kramer Brothers.

Portafab Modular Building Systems was assessed by NSF-ISR in spring of 2010 and found to be in conformance with ISO 9001:2008 standards. ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS) that is designed to provide companies with a set of principles that ensure a systematic approach to achieving customer satisfaction.

The Grand Bay Coastal Resources Center attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification in August of 2010. The $7 million, 20,000-sf research and education facility is owned by the state of Mississippi and opened in December of 2009. Comprising five wings and an amphitheater courtyard, the building includes chemistry, biology, and microbiology laboratories as well as classrooms and offices. The project was designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent in collaboration with Studio South Architects.

The Wistar Institute is planning to construct a biomedical research tower in Philadelphia. The seven-story facility will house five floors of research labs as well as meeting space and an auditorium. Designed by Ballinger, the project includes demolition of less than one third of Wistar’s existing 103,750-sf cancer research building and vivarium.