Research and Development

Almac Group broke ground on its $78.5 million headquarters and production facility in Lower Salford Township, Pa., in July of 2008. The 240,000-sf project, which is being managed by Skanska USA, is scheduled for completion in 2010. When complete, the 40-acre site will accommodate a 74,500-sf office building and a 165,600-sf production facility. Initially two divisions, Almac Clinical Services and Almac Clinical Technologies, will be based in the building, and plans are in place for expansion across other divisions at the site.

Momentive Performance Materials, a silicones manufacturer, will begin construction in 2009 on an $81 million headquarters and R&D center in Rensselaer, N.Y. Consolidating operations from several locations, the project is comprised of a $65 million, 124,000-sf research and development facility and a $16 million headquarters.

NATCO broke ground in July of 2008 on its new research and development center in Houston. The 30,000-sf facility will accommodate the development of process solutions for large scale pilot plants as well as providing laboratory services and computer and scale modeling. Featuring technology demonstration areas, training facilities, and conference rooms, the facility will support NATCO’s oil and gas industry technologies.

Purdue University is constructing the Wayne T. and Mary T. Hockmeyer Hall of Structural Biology in West Lafayette, Ind. The $30 million, 65,690-sf building broke ground in October of 2007 and will house the Markey Center for Structural Biology. Completion is slated for fall of 2009.

Stanford University will break ground in 2009 on the 200,000-sf Stanford Institutes of Medicine 1 in Palo Alto, Calif. Housing the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, the $200 million project received $43.58 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in May of 2008. Completion is expected in 2011. The project team includes Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.

Stempeutics Research opened a 5,000-sf stem cell research facility on the campus of Manipal University in India in July of 2008. Located at Shirdi Sai Baba Cancer Hospital, the cGMP laboratory will support therapeutics research and production with two Class 10,000 cleanrooms. The facility is designed to USA Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) standards and employ cGTP (current Good Tissue Practice) manufacturing processes.

IBM is planning a $1.5 billion expansion of its research and manufacturing operations in New York State. IBM will invest $400 million at the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering as well as initiating an extensive expansion of its East Fishkill chip manufacturing and research facility. Additionally, a packaging plant will be constructed in upstate New York. Completion of IBM’s statewide expansion is expected by 2011.

The United Kingdom’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) released £397 million in research facility funding in July of 2008. The Large Facilities Capital Fund awards include:

Dow Water Solutions, part of The Dow Chemical Company, will construct the Water Technology Development Center in Tarragona, Spain. The $15 million facility will support research and development for Dow's membrane, ultrafiltration, and desalination technologies to create sustainable water supplies. The center is slated for occupancy by year-end 2009 and will house 25 researchers. Acciona Agua will design and build the facility.

The University at Albany is partnering with Albany Medical Center to build a $42 million biomedical research facility at UAlbany's East Campus in East Greenbush, N.Y. The 110,000-sf Institute for Biomedical Education and Research will accommodate collaborative research on cardiology, cancer, and neurological disorders.

GE Healthcare is constructing a $165 million digital imaging production facility in the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush, N.Y.  Slated for completion in early 2009, the facility will produce sensors for digital mammography machines in a 60,000-sf cleanroom. LEED Gold certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project, which will feature use of natural light and rooftop solar panels to power the building’s laboratory and office wings. 

Monsanto broke ground on its $6 million Learning Center in Gothenburg, Neb., in July of 2008. The 25,000-sf facility will support agricultural implementation of Monsanto’s grain hybrids. The project includes expansion of the company’s existing Gothenburg research facility and the creation of test plots. Completion is slated for April of 2009. 

Tufts University is building the $25.9 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in North Grafton, Mass. Part of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the facility is funded in part by $19.35 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The 38,000-gsf facility is sited on 5.4 acres in the Grafton Science Park and will include 23,290-sf of mechanical and basement space.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is partnering with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create the Cherokee Farm research campus in Knoxville. The project will include preservation of prehistoric remains and the relocation of an existing dairy farm to create a LEED-certified R&D incubator for commercialization of scientific discoveries. Research areas will include leadership and network computing; neutron science; nanotechnology and materials science; energy, climate, and environmental science; and biomedical science.

Purdue University will break ground in fall of 2008 on an $11 million expansion of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories in West Lafayette, Ind.  The new facility will double the lab’s existing footprint of 27,500-sf to provide a total of 52,000-sf. The first phase of the project will be comprised of 16,000-sf for the Perception-Based Engineering Laboratory and the Cummins Engine Laboratory. Housing offices and experimental facilities for over 100 faculty, graduate students, and staff, the project will feature noise and vibration mitigation technologies.