Tradeline's industry reports are a must-read resource for those involved in facilities planning and management. Reports include management case studies, current and in-depth project profiles, and editorials on the latest facilities management issues.
Following a 2018 change in leadership at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the nation’s largest science and energy laboratory redefined how it views and manages its 4-million-plus-gsf space portfolio. In the shift from a landlord-tenant cost-recovery model managed by outside partners to a restructured internal space management organization, ORNL launched a wide-ranging initiative to improve utilization of existing space and increase transparency. Among the measures implemented were: creating a space authority in each of the lab’s eight research directorates; convening an annual space summit; walking down the entire space at least twice a year; and building an integrated workplace management system based on extensive data gathering.
The University of Colorado Boulder saved a mid-century building from demolition by refurbishing it -- and funding it -- in stages. They continued to use the building as the students and faculty decided the best use for each space, overcoming issues of low floor-to-floor heights, inadequate mechanical systems, and asbestos.
The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), is becoming Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research, preparing Canada for emerging health threats by expanding its expertise and infrastructure. This includes opening a new Vaccine Development Centre (VDC) to manufacture vaccines; constructing a new multispecies animal housing facility; enhancing its biosafety containment to the highest level to facilitate research on the most complex pathogens; and using its nearly five decades of success to attract top scientists.
Princeton University's Environmental Studies and School of Engineering and Applied Science (ES+SEAS) project, scheduled for completion in 2025, stretches 1,700 feet along a narrow 17.5-acre site. The complex will provide 670,000 gsf of lab, office, and collaboration space for five of the university’s science and engineering entities in three interconnected, four-story structures and a Commons. The project is notable not only for its massive scale but for its focus on fostering connections within and among groups that work in many different ways. The design realizes the university’s vision of creating identity, community, collaboration, inspiration, flexibility, and efficiency in an environment whose hallmark is a rich variety of bespoke non-lab space configurations that follow uniform standards for everything from office dimensions to lounge furnishings.
Philadelphia-based Genesis AEC was able to reduce the square footage of a new translational medicine center of excellence by more than half and cut cost estimates by 16%, by reviewing the client’s needs versus wants; using innovative design practices, including a first-of-its-kind firewall design; and applying the approach known as “engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM).” The facility for a U.S.-based multi-national pharmaceutical company opened on Sept. 1, 2023.
