Information Technology

Radiance Technologies broke ground in July of 2018 on its new corporate headquarters in Huntsville, Ala. Located in Cummings Research Park West, the 100,000-sf facility will support the growth of business partnerships with the Department of Defense, NASA, and national intelligence organizations. Designed by Fuqua and Partners, the project will provide secure high bay space, a variety of classified and unclassified labs, and a 200-seat conference center. Completion is expected in late summer of 2019.

The Georgia Cyber Center opened the Hull McKnight Building in July of 2018. Located on the campus of Augusta University, the facility accommodates a cyber range, a 340-seat auditorium, offices for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Cyber Crime Unit, multi-institutional classrooms and computer labs, a business incubator, and demonstration space to showcase current research. A second structure, the Shaffer MacCartney Building, is slated for completion in December of 2018, creating a 332,000-sf complex that represents a total investment of $100 million.

The University of Houston is building a new campus in Katy, Texas. Ground was broken in May of 2018 on the $32 million University Center, which will support programs in nursing, engineering, business, education, computer science, mathematics, psychology, and political science. Designed by SmithGroupJJR, the 80,000-sf project will also support online instructional programs. The general contractor is Tellepsen and completion is expected by fall of 2019. 

UpCodes released a software plugin in June of 2018 that checks BIM models for code compliance errors. UpCodes AI allows code errors to be viewed in real time in Revit, enabling project timelines to be accelerated through shortened internal code review and the creation of more accurate drawings, thus reducing the number of revision cycles before approval. Regulations are sourced directly from municipalities in 27 states and are updated continuously. UpCodes is based in San Francisco. 

London Health Sciences Centre is utilizing Honeywell Vector Space Sense to optimize facility utilization and reduce operational costs. The software solution shows where, when, and how spaces are being used at any given point in time, enabling the operations team to make informed real estate and space allocation decisions. London Health Sciences Centre is a hospital network in Ontario with 15,000 employees occupying 1.9 million square feet.

Stonehill College broke ground in May of 2018 on the $30 million Leo J. Meehan School of Business in Easton, Mass. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the technology-rich facility will feature adaptive classrooms, collaboration spaces, simulated trading rooms, and advanced business innovation studios with maker spaces. The 65,000-sf project, which is being constructed by BOND, will also include Bloomberg rooms offering training and access to the company's interactive financial information network. Completion is expected in fall of 2019.

Global Switch, a leading owner and operator of advanced data centers in Europe and Asia-Pacific, will implement modular construction methodologies in the delivery of its $209 million Singapore Woodlands facility. Gammon Construction, a joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Jardine Matheson, will precast 70 percent of the structure offsite, as well as using Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the delivery of the project.

The RAND Corporation transformed 10,000 sf of a Class A office building it leases in Alexandria, Va., from 100 percent closed, assigned offices and cubicles to nearly 100 percent unassigned seating, with glass walls throughout. The controversial pilot program has been an overwhelming success: An independent study found that the new design increases unplanned interactions among researchers and improved support for teamwork, while at the same time sustaining or improving the environment for deep concentration. It also increased space utilization by 30-35 percent. The original pilot space has been tripled, plans are in the works to convert more space this way, and RAND intends to implement this design for all new office space. Its success has been enabled by a wide range of IT solutions that RAND developed to support it.

Idaho National Laboratory and the Idaho State Board of Education broke ground in April of 2018 on two new research facilities in Idaho Falls. The 80,000-sf Cybercore Integration Center will provide advanced electronics labs where industry, government, and academic partners can engage in collaborative cybersecurity research. The 67,000-sf Collaborative Computing Center (C3) will feature a supercomputer for advanced simulation and modeling operations. The estimated construction cost of both facilities is $75 million.

The University of Leicester began construction in March of 2018 on an expansion of its existing student union building in the United Kingdom. Designed by Shepheard Epstein Hunter, the mixed-use project includes the addition of a four-story extension to the east wing which will house a large food court, social learning spaces, and an informatics labs to support programs in information science. A new façade and entrance will also be created to enhance campus connectivity.

Accenture is creating a 126,000-sf innovation hub in Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Designed by Gensler to promote collaboration, the 126,000-sf leased facility features open offices and meeting areas arranged in neighborhoods to foster interaction. The project will support Accenture's technology, digital business, and consulting operations, and is one of ten innovation hubs that the company will open nationwide by late 2020.

NextCorps opened an entrepreneurship hub in Rochester in February of 2018. Located in the Sibley Square building, the project was created by the University of Rochester, the state of New York, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center began construction in December of 2017 on a 165,000-sf technology incubator and workforce development facility in Augusta. Slated for completion in late 2018, the five-story project is supported by $35 million in state funding and represents the center's second phase of construction. A $60 million, 167,000-sf cybersecurity research facility is currently under construction at the site and completion is expected in July of 2018.

The Milwaukee School of Engineering will break ground in mid-2018 on the $34 million Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall in Milwaukee. Supporting programs in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and robotics, the 64,000-sf academic facility will provide classrooms, laboratories, an auditorium, a business incubator, and a data center housing a GPU-accelerated supercomputer. The Diercks Computational Science Hall is being designed by Uihlein/Wilson-Ramlow/Stein Architects.

Boston College is planning to build a $150 million science center in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Housing the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, the 150,000-sf facility will support programs in applied sciences, engineering, design, global public health, and computer and data sciences. Designed to promote innovation, the interdisciplinary building will feature makerspaces, research labs, a cleanroom, a collaboration commons, and technology-rich teaching labs for robotics, computing, and data visualization.