Research and Development

Louisiana Cancer Research Center initiated construction in early 2009 on a $100 million research facility in New Orleans. Created by a partnership of Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, the 250,000-sf project is sited on two acres between the collaborating institutions. The facility was designed by RMJM Hillier with Brice Building Company as general contractor. Completion is expected in August of 2011.

The FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act was signed into law by President Barrack Obama on March 11, 2009. The bill, H.R. 1105, will provide the National Institutes of Health with a total of $30.3 billion for federal year 2009, $937.5 million more than fiscal year 2008. The funding represents an increase of approximately 3.2 percent and will allow the NIH to allocate funding for new research grants.

LG Group completed construction of its $182.7 million research and development center in March of 2009 in Seoul, Korea. The duration of construction was three years. The facility will support R&D in digital convergence technologies, software and design of mobile phones, televisions, and optical storage products. The 25-story building will accommodate 3,000 employees.

Wright State University’s Matthew O. Diggs III Laboratory for Life Science Research was awarded LEED Gold sustainable design certification in March of 2009. Located in Fairborn, Ohio, the 48,000-sf facility utilizes 40 percent less energy than a standard laboratory and features a white roof for heat deflection, irrigation-free landscaping, waterless urinals and low-flow plumbing fixtures, highly efficient HVAC systems with heat recovery, and low-VOC interior finishes. The $15 million facility was completed in November of 2007.

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine opened the $45 million Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building in Baltimore in early 2009. The four-story, 100,000-sf project broke ground in September of 2006 and houses a 70-person learning studio, two 180-seat lecture halls, classrooms, flexible laboratories, offices, and study areas. The facility will support the School of Medicine’s new Genes to Society curriculum, which centers on advances in human genome research.

UC Santa Cruz is partnering with Foothill-De Anza Community College and NASA Ames Research Center to create a $1 billion research and education campus at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif. The project will support research on energy, sustainable technologies, and advanced computing. The campus will include classrooms, research labs, a business incubator, and housing. Construction is expected begin between 2012 and 2014. The facilities will be sustainably designed and will feature solar and wind power and water reclamation.

The University of Tennessee began site work for the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials in Knoxville in March of 2009. Construction will begin the following autumn on the facility which is supported by $20 million in federal funds and $10 million in state funds. Completion is expected in August of 2011. The project is part of the Cherokee Farm development, a 188-acre interdisciplinary research campus created to foster collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and industry partners.

The Canadian government allocated up to $2 billion in its 2009 budget to repair, retrofit, and expand facilities at post-secondary institutions. The funding represents a strategic investment in knowledge infrastructure.

Brookhaven National Laboratory will build a 37-megawatt solar energy plant in Upton, N.Y. The facility will be able to supply 6,500 homes with electricity and will be operational by 2011. The project is funded in part by $15 million from the state’s Energy Research and Development Authority and will be built by British Petroleum Solar. Additionally, Brookhaven National Laboratory will utilize 15 megawatts of hydropower to support the $912 million National Synchrotron Light Source II, which is slated for completion in 2015.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory completed construction of the National Ignition Facility in March of 2009. Located in Livermore, Calif., the ten-story facility will house the largest and most powerful laser in the world for research in nuclear fusion, astrophysics, national security, and high energy density science. The National Ignition Facility will officially open on May 29, 2009. Ignition experiments will commence in 2010.

The University of California-Merced is planning to construct a stem cell research facility in the existing Science and Engineering Building in Merced, Calif. Funded by $4.36 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the $6 million research laboratory will feature a microfabrication facility to analyze stem cells at a single cell level. Construction could begin in October of 2009 with occupancy expected in October of 2010.

The University of Central Florida will break ground in March of 2009 on the second phase of the Physical Sciences Building in Orlando. Housing chemistry and physics research labs and offices, the $30 million facility will be connected to the first Physical Sciences facility by an atrium. The four-story, 62,000-sf project will be constructed with isolated slabs to protect sensitive instrumentation from vibrations. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which will feature daylighting and a green roof.

Strathclyde University is constructing the £35 million Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences in Glasgow. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 8,000-sm multidisciplinary facility will support drug discovery and pharmaceutical R&D as well as housing the departments of physiology, bioscience, immunology, pharmaceutical sciences, and pharmacology. The six-story project will include a 160-seat teaching lab, research labs, interactive write-up spaces, and a pharmaceutical cleanroom.

Jacksonville University broke ground on the $11 million Marine Sciences Research Institute in late February of 2009 in Jacksonville, Fla. The 30,000-sf riverfront facility will support research on water quality, dredging, and marine mammal preservation with laboratories, a classroom, and a teaching pontoon. Completion is slated for late 2010. The architect for the two-story building is Rink Design. The LEED certified project will feature solar panels and a rainwater drainage system.

Honda R&D Co. will begin construction in April of 2009 on a cellulosic ethanol research facility in Japan. Located in the Kazusa Akademia Park in Kisarazu, Chiba, the 1,050-sm laboratory will produce biofuels from non-food feedstocks. The building will house research, development, and testing facilities. Completion is expected by November of 2009.