Pharmaceutical

EMD Serono’s Project SagaMORE has been named the 2018 Green Building of the Year by the Massachusetts chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Located on EMD Serono's biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Billerica, the two-story, 30,000-sf addition offers open-plan work areas, a central auditorium, and numerous meeting spaces to support the development of advanced medical therapies. The $12 million project has jointly achieved WELL Gold certification for New & Existing Construction.

Merck will break ground in January of 2019 on a $28 million pharmaceutical research and distribution center in Visalia, Calif. The 123,332-sf facility will be located in the Visalia Industrial Park and can be expanded by 160,000 sf to accommodate future growth. The developer for the project is Scannell and completion is expected in late 2019. Merck is based in Darmstadt, Germany.

Sanofi announced the lease of 900,000 sf in two buildings in the Cambridge Crossing development in December of 2018. The French pharmaceutical manufacturer will occupy approximately a fifth of the 45-acre campus spanning Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. The project will provide collaborative laboratory and office space for 2,700 Sanofi employees.

The Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre is planning to create a £66 million research and production facility in the United Kingdom. Located in the Oxford Science Park, the project will support the development and manufacturing of vaccines for clinical trials and epidemic threat mitigation, as well as the creation of gene therapy technologies and personalized medicine solutions.

Mustang Bio completed construction of its 27,000-sf cell therapy manufacturing center in November of 2018. Located in the UMass Medicine Science Park in Worcester, the facility supports the clinical development and commercialization of Mustang's CAR-T and gene therapy product candidates. Accommodating proprietary cell therapy research, the project involved the renovation of labs and offices, as well as the conversion of existing labs to create three cGMP ISO7 clinical production areas.

Children's National Health System broke ground in late November of 2018 on the Research and Innovation Campus in Washington. The project includes the renovation of four existing buildings located on 12 acres on the former Walter Reed Medical Center Campus. A 333,000-sf research and innovation facility will provide 158,000 sf of laboratory space for the study of pediatric genomics and precision medicine. The project will include a business incubator and 175,000 of shell space to accommodate future growth. Completion is expected in 2020.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia completed construction of the $75 million Clinical Vector Core in November of 2018. Located on the basement level of the Colket Translational Research Building, the project provides laboratories, offices, four production suites, and cleanrooms for the manufacture of gene therapy agents for clinical trials. The 15,000-sf facility features robust environmental controls and was built at a cost of $44 million. The Clinical Vector Core is part of the Raymond G.

AbbVie signed a long-term lease in November of 2018 for 480,000 sf in the Gateway of Pacific development in South San Francisco. The facility will be located in a 12-story building currently being constructed by BioMed Realty. Gateway of Pacific is being delivered in two phases, with the first phase comprising 555,000 sf of lab, research, office, and amenity space. Completion is expected in late 2019. The second phase will provide an additional 431,000 sf of lab, office, and parking space and is slated for completion in late 2021.

WuXi Biologics began construction in October of 2018 on its Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Shijiazhuang, China. Providing 48,000 liters of production capacity, the facility will meet international cGMP standards and will utilize disposable bioreactors. WuXi Biologics expects to have over 220,000 liters of manufacturing capacity by 2021.

Octapharma celebrated the opening of a $27 million pharmaceutical R&D facility on its Vienna campus in October of 2018. Designed by ATP to provide optimal flexibility, the six-story, 68,470-gsf structure offers 48,438 assignable square feet of laboratory, office, meeting, and collaboration space. The sustainable facility utilizes advanced building systems with heat recovery technologies. Octapharma is also constructing a $45 million pilot plant at the site which is slated for completion in late 2018.

The distinctive design characteristics of the tech workplace are spilling over into the scientific research environment. Elements like glass-walled open-plan offices and labs, activity-based spaces, and the embrace of WELL standards are all making an appearance in Merck & Co., Inc.’s new nine-story, multi-disciplinary discovery research facility, set to open in South San Francisco in 2019. Along with other yet-to-be determined innovations, these features likely will be incorporated in the $8 billion in U.S. capital projects the pharmaceutical giant announced it will invest in over the next five years.

Boehringer Ingelheim opened its $81 million global center for veterinary vaccine development in October of 2018. Located in Lyon, France, the four-story, 156,000-sf facility provides research and development laboratories for the creation of animal vaccines for diseases such as rabies and avian influenza. Designed as an international center for biological excellence, the project features scalable production suites and can accommodate 200 employees.

Rubius Therapeutics began construction in October of 2018 on a $155 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Smithfield, R.I. The project includes renovation of an existing 135,000-sf building to create a leading-edge facility for the manufacture of the company's Red Cell Therapeutics product line which includes treatments for cancer and other diseases. The structure, which was formerly owned and occupied by Alexion, will accommodate 160 new employees. 

Ajinomoto Althea is building a 57,000-sf pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in San Diego. Accommodating all stages of development from preclinical production through commercial supply, the project will support the manufacture of highly potent drug products as well as Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs). The facility will enable the safe handling and manipulation of compounds with very low occupational exposure limits (OEL) while maintaining aseptic conditions and cGMP compliance.

The Bioprocess Innovation Center is the new office and research headquarters for FUJIFILM Diosynth Technologies in Research Triangle Park. The three-story facility combines research laboratories and administration into one building and fosters a strong sense of community, despite the isolated suburban setting. The project re-conceptualizes the role of a research laboratory building as a “home for a team of scientists.” The company’s research capabilities are showcased as visitors see the lab spaces as they approach the building.