The International WELL Building Institute launched the WELL Health-Safety Rating for all building and facility types in June of 2020. The evidence-based, third-party-verified rating system focuses on operational policies, maintenance protocols, and design strategies for the post-COVID-19 environment.
AZIsotopes is building a $45 million headquarters and production facility in Bunker Hill, Ind. The project includes the renovation of a 55,000-sf shell building and the construction of a 28,000-sf addtion, which will house a cyclotron vault with walls ten feet thick to isolate the instrument's two 70-ton magnets. Strategically located near Grissom Air Force Base to meet security requirements, the facility will support the creation of medical isotopes for diagnostic testing and clinical treatment. Operations at the site are expected to begin by early 2021.
Leeds Beckett University completed construction in June of 2020 on the £45 million Carnegie School of Sport in Leeds in the United Kingdom. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 90,000-sf facility will accommodate sports science research programs as well as offering performance analysis and training services for elite athletes. The structure provides the school's Centre for Human Performance with dedicated research labs including two environmental chambers capable of producing a variety of temperature, humidity, and altitude conditions.
The University of Texas at San Antonio is planning to construct a $90 million facility that will house the School of Data Science and the National Security Collaboration Center. The School of Data Science will occupy 84,500 sf of classroom, lab, and office space in the structure, which will collocate the departments of computer science, computer engineering, statistics and data sciences, and information systems and cybersecurity.
Access to quick, reliable, and repeated testing has been one of the greatest challenges for businesses, institutions, and individuals during the SARS-CoV-2 crisis. HOK has partnered with Germfree Laboratories to design a mobile testing lab that will help large organizations to meet this urgent need. These self-contained biocontainment facilities can provide advanced, onsite capabilities for any setting.
The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute will begin construction in July of 2020 on the SAHMRI 2 building in Adelaide. Designed by Woods Bagot, the AUD$500 million project will accelerate the delivery of leading-edge clinical care as well as accommodating growing research programs in health analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Standing 12 stories above grade with three underground levels, the facility will house the Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy & Research and the SAiGEN Cancer Institute.
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro is constructing the $105 million Nursing and Instructional Building. Designed by LS3P, the 180,000-sf structure will provide a consolidated home for the School of Nursing and allow for programmatic growth to support additional enrollment. The four-story structure will feature multiple simulation training environments including hospital rooms, patient exam rooms, labor and delivery suites, and home health settings such as mock apartments.
Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, is enabling companies to re-open for business with the highest health and safety standards in place through its innovative Protek program. Protek harnesses science-based processes and protocols to mitigate environmental health risks in facilities, from existing buildings to new construction projects.
Amid sobering reports of job losses in commercial real estate, coupled with months-long construction shutdowns in major markets like Boston and New York, the life sciences sector is poised to experience a less dramatic disruption, and possibly emerge from the pandemic even stronger than it was before. “COVID is a healthcare crisis, so it needs a healthcare solution, and that life sciences and biophparma solution has to be constructed,” says Kevin Chronley, vice president of A/Z Corp. and immediate past president of the Boston Area Chapter of International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE). Chronley predicts that construction will run the gamut from medical device manufacturing and biopharma laboratories to education and training facilities.
Ryvu Therapeutics completed construction in June of 2020 on the R&D Center for Innovative Drugs in Krakow, Poland. Accommodating approximately 300 employees, the $20 million headquarters and research facility will enable the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of novel small molecule therapies that address emerging targets in oncology.
Genomic Partnership Wales is planning to construct a research facility in Cardiff in the United Kingdom to accelerate the development of pharmaceutical therapies. Created by a consortium of government, academic, and medical partners, the project involves the redevelopment of an existing two-story building to provide leading-edge genetics labs, seminar rooms, treatment suites, offices, freezer rooms, and support. The facility will include CL2 biocontainment research suites to ensure compliance with the UK's HBN 15 regulations for pathology services.
Catalent is rapidly scaling up its manufacturing capacity in Bloomington to enable production of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate that is currently being by developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The collaboration involves joint investment from Catalent and Janssen to enable large-scale commercial manufacturing by January of 2021, with segregated cGMP production lines operating 24/7 to create approximately a billion doses.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center is renovating the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation in Omaha. Designed by Altus Architectural Studio, the $86 million project includes the redevelopment of an existing structure to create an integrated 220,078-sf facility for the treatment of patients with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Doubling the current size of the institute, the building will house the interdisciplinary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, the Warren G.
Exyte is partnering with Univercells Technologies to create modular biomanufacturing facilities to meet the increased global demand for vaccines during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Exyte’s prefabricated construction system, ExyCell, is paired with Univercells’ NevoLine biomanufacturing platform which features the scale-X™ fixed-bed bioreactor at its core.
American University is constructing the $90 million Hall of Science in Washington, D.C. Designed to promote innovation and collaboration, the 125,000-sf building will provide shared research areas where students and faculty can participate in joint projects with scientists from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
