Research and Development

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.

The University of Edinburgh has selected Miller Construction to build the £54 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the university's BioQuarter site in Edinburgh. The three-story, 8,900-sm project is slated for completion in mid-2011. The facility represents the first phase of the planned £600 million, 130,000-sm BioQuarter research campus.

Washington State University’s Board of Regents approved the schematic design for the $35 million School for Global Animal Health in Pullman, Wash., in late March of 2009. The 47,000-sf facility will be sited adjacent to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and will accommodate 12 to 15 scientists. Housing research laboratories for the study of zoonotic diseases, emerging pathogen detection, and vaccine development, the facility is funded in part by a $25 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is constructing the $35 million Advanced Light Source User Support Building in Berkeley, Calif. The 30,928-gsf project will house labs, offices, conference rooms, and experiment assembly space for advanced physics research. LBNL was awarded $115.8 million from the Department of Energy in April of 2009 as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals opened its biopharmaceutical research facility in San Diego in April of 2009. Designed by Kornberg Associates, the 38,000-sf project transformed an existing single-story structure into a two-story laboratory and research office complex. The building includes a video conferencing room and an interstitial floor for HVAC equipment. Housing organic, peptide, and analytical chemistry labs, the facility features mobile workbenches and cabinets that connect to a horizontal utility umbilical for maximum flexibility.

The Health Protection Agency is constructing the £12 million Influenza Resource Centre (IRC) in Potters Bar in the United Kingdom. Part of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, the laboratory will support influenza vaccine research and development, production, and standardization. Occupancy is expected in early 2010.

The University of Albany opened a $150 million expansion of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in late March of 2009. Located in Albany, N.Y., the 350,000-sf project includes the NanoFab East Office and Laboratory Building and the NanoFab Central Cleanroom Building. Bringing the total footprint of CNSE to over 800,000 sf, the expansion will support industry partnerships with companies including IBM, International Sematech, and Vistec Lithography.

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) officially opened its $4 million R&D facility in Crane, Ind., in March of 2009. Located on a former brownfield site in the WestGate at Crane Technology Park, the 37,800-sf building features laboratories for optics, high power lasers, rapid prototyping and development, and 4,000-sf of secure electronic warfare systems R&D space. The facility will house 200 employees for the SAIC Warfare Systems and Integration Solutions Operation.

Bristol-Myers Squibb opened its 20,000-sf research and development facility in Bangalore, India, in March of 2009. Located in Biocon Park, the project will house 270 researchers engaged in pharmaceutical discovery and drug development. Construction began on the project in March of 2007.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will break ground in late spring of 2009 on a chemical and materials sciences research building in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Supported by funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 160,000-sf facility will house 200 researchers engaged in the creation of solar batteries, corrosion resistant materials, and superconducting transmission lines. LEED certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project. Completion is slated for 2011.

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility will begin construction in spring of 2009 on a $310 million upgrade of its Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) in Newport News, Va. The nuclear physics research project will include construction of a fourth experimental hall and a 250-foot extension of the lab's underground accelerator tunnel. Completion is expected in 2015.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute is partnering with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, to construct a $20 million HIV and tuberculosis research facility. Integrated with the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at Nelson Mandela Medical School, the six-story facility will include two floors of high level biocontainment laboratories.

The Canadian Light Source is planning to construct two research facilities in Saskatoon. The Quantum Materials Spectroscopy Centre (QMSC) and the BioXAS Beamline Facility will benefit from $3.8 million in funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada. The QMSC will house a beamline for materials science research and will be operated by the University of British Columbia.

The Medical University of South Carolina began construction on a 28,000-sf biomedical research facility in Charleston in March of 2009. The $5.5 million Innovation Center project involves renovation of an existing warehouse facility to create a 28,000-sf business incubator housing technology-rich research labs and offices. Completion is expected in November of 2009. The project is created in collaboration with the South Carolina Research Authority and the city of Charleston.