Research and Development

The University of Chicago dedicated the renovated Searle Chemistry Laboratory on April 20, 2009. The $49 million project will support cross-disciplinary collaborative research with advanced laboratories and instrumentation. The Chemistry Department, the Computation Institute, and the Tri-Institutional Center for Chemical Methods and Library Development will be housed in the 85,000-gsf facility. The five-story building will include suites for NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry as well as cleanroom facilities.

The University of the Pacific broke ground on the $12 million John T. Chambers Technology Center in April of 2009. Located in Stockton, Calif., the 24,000-sf facility will house the School of Engineering and Computer Science. The building will include seven research and teaching laboratories, faculty offices, classrooms, conference rooms, and study areas. LEED certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project.

The University of Washington broke ground on the $36.9 million Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, Wash., in April of 2009. The three-story multidisciplinary research facility will house water and environmental science laboratories for the University and the city of Tacoma. LEED Platinum certification will be sought for the 51,205-sf waterfront facility. The Center for Urban Waters is being developed in collaboration with Puget Sound Partnership.

Osaka University will begin construction in March of 2010 on a nanotechnology business incubator in Osaka, Japan. The construction cost of the five-story building is estimated at over one billion yen. Housing nanotechnology laboratories, the facility will provide access to equipment and instrumentation as well as promoting collaboration with University researchers and engineers. The nanotechnology incubator will house up to 24 companies.

The United States Air Force has awarded The Butt Construction Co. a $36 million contract to expand the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The design/build project includes 90,000-sf of new construction and 50,000-sf of renovation. Construction will begin in early summer of 2009 with completion slated for April of 2011. Design partners for the project include Edge and Tinney Architects, Heapy Engineering, LJB Inc., and Acoustical Systems.

Montana State University is planning to construct three new facilities to house the Northern Agricultural Research Center in Havre, Mont. The $1.8 million project will begin construction in summer of 2009 with the first facility slated for completion in early 2010. The completed Northern Agricultural Research Center will house offices, laboratories, meeting rooms, a livestock research facility, a calving barn, and a chemical handling facility.

Monash University opened its $153 million regenerative medicine research facility in Clayton, Australia, in April of 2009. Construction began on the 17,200-sm project in January of 2007. The sustainably-designed facility is comprised of two four-story buildings connected by a core structure and is part of a growing biomedical research campus.

Smart Cells International opened its cord blood stem cell facility in London in March of 2009. The advanced processing and storage laboratory will house stem cells from donors and families in a GMP-certified facility with advanced monitoring systems for air pressure, air particle count, and liquid nitrogen level in the tanks. The building also features backup power generation and a sophisticated air handling system.

Oklahoma State University will officially break ground on the Institute for Agricultural Biosciences on May 1, 2009. Located in Ardmore, the facility will support research on agricultural energy sources in collaboration with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. The building will house administrative space, traditional and controlled environmental laboratories, greenhouses, and conference rooms for the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. LEED certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project.

Brandeis University celebrated the opening of the $154 million Carl J. Shapiro Science Center in Waltham, Mass., in April of 2009. Designed by Payette of Boston, the 175,000-sf project broke ground in spring of 2006. The facility features interdisciplinary research labs, a science commons, classrooms, seminar rooms, conference rooms, and a café. The Shapiro Science Center will officially be dedicated in fall of 2009 and represents the first phase of the Science Complex Renewal Project.

The U.S. Forest Service will break ground in April of 2009 on a 21,700-sf headquarters for the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colo. Supported by $1.3 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the two-story building will house laboratories and offices for environmental science and climate change research. Utilizing solar power for electricity and water heating, the collaborative and flexible research facility will feature an open laboratory plan. The general contractor for the project is Greenleaf Construction.

The University of Waterloo is building the $160 million Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) in Waterloo, Ontario. Housing research and instruction in quantum information technology and nanotechnology, the 280,000-sf project broke ground in June of 2008 and is slated for occupancy in early 2011. Designed by KPMB Architects of Toronto, the five-story facility will include a 10,000-sf fabrication cleanroom, a metrology suite, teaching and research labs, seminar rooms, and faculty offices.

Idaho Technology celebrated the opening of its new $8.5 million R&D facility in Salt Lake City in April of 2009. Located in the University of Utah Research Park, the 41,000-sf project houses laboratories for the development of infectious disease and biological warfare testing solutions. Clinical trials will begin in mid-2009 on the technology, which will be released as kits for the detection of viruses, bacteria, and select agents in 2010.

The University of Virginia broke ground on two new buildings in Charlottesville in April of 2009. The six-story, 100,000-sf Information Technology Engineering Building will house laboratories, an auditorium, and workrooms for teaching and research in computer science and engineering. Designed to support collaborative research and distance education, the sustainably designed facility is slated for occupancy in fall of 2011.

Tufts University dedicated the $33.7 million New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory on March 30, 2009. Sited on 5.4 acres in North Grafton, Mass., the 41,000-sf project provides 649-sf of BSL-2 space and 8,480-sf of BSL-3 space for zoonotic disease research. The secure facility was designed by Flad Architects and includes laboratories, a vivarium, an insectary, and support space. Construction began on the laboratory in September of 2007.