Manufacturing

Dow Chemical Company Renovates Electronics Materials Lab

Elekta opened its 150,695-sf Global Radiotherapy Innovation Center in September of 2018 in Crawley in the United Kingdom. Located on the company's five-acre Cornerstone campus, the facility will support the design and manufacture of precision radiation therapy technologies. Construction began in 2015 on the project, which will accommodate up to 750 employees including engineers, scientists, clinicians, and customer-facing professionals.

WABCO opened the $30 million Global Technology and Innovation Center in August of 2018 in Hanover, Germany. Accommodating over 420 employees, the 124,000-sf R&D hub will provide engineering and product development labs for the creation of automotive technologies. Designed to promote collaboration and interaction, the center will support the development of advanced safety and efficiency systems for autonomous, connected, and electric commercial vehicles. Additionally, WABCO opened a customer care center in July of 2018 in Rochester Hills, Mich.

Moderna Therapeutics opened a $110 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in July of 2018 in Norwood, Mass. Supporting phase one and two clinical development programs, the 200,000-sf facility will provide cGMP production and testing facilities for mRNA drug candidates, as well as housing a Personalized Cancer Vaccine (PCV) unit. Featuring sophisticated digital technologies for the integration of manufacturing operations, the building also houses quality control labs, plasmid production suites, preclinical labs, offices, and logistics space.

Atara Biotherapeutics opened a $55 million manufacturing facility in June of 2018 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Designed by HPA Architects to meet LEED sustainable design criteria, the Atara T-cell Operations and Manufacturing (ATOM) center houses a 90,000-sf facility for the production of CAR-T allogeneic therapies, as well as additional R&D labs and offices. The project was developed by Sares-Regis Group with Atara signing a 15-year lease for the building.

Milwaukee Tool Company will begin construction in the third quarter of 2018 on a $32 million research and development facility in Brookfield, Wis. Located on the firm's global headquarters campus, the 114,500-sf project will accommodate engineering, R&D, and advanced manufacturing operations. The facility will increase the total footprint of the Brookfield site to approximately 504,500 sf, enabling Milwaukee Tool to hire an additional 350 employees. Completion is expected in late 2019.

Pfizer is planning to construct a 400,000-sf modular aseptic processing facility on its existing campus in Portage, Mich. Part of a $1.1 billion investment in Kalamazoo County over the next six years, the $465 million center will be one of the world’s most advanced facilities for the manufacture of sterile injectables.

BAE Systems is initiating a $45 million expansion of its facilities in Huntsville, Ala. Strategically sited to foster closer connections with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Department of Defense, the 83,000-sf project will provide engineering development suites, laboratories, manufacturing space, and offices to support new programs and existing businesses, including the design, development, and manufacturing of precision munitions and aircraft survivability technologies.

Baker Hughes General Electric, a subsidiary of GE, is planning to build a £31 million Centre of Excellence in Montrose, Scotland. The company's existing facilities will be expanded and renovated to create a leading-edge R&D complex for the manufacture, testing, and assembly of subsea equipment for oil and gas extraction and production. Sited on 35 acres, the 430,000-sf project will offer sophisticated virtual reality tools and 3D printing suites to enable the development of new manufacturing processes and technologies.

Arthrex is building a $74 million medical device manufacturing complex in Anderson County, S.C. The project includes construction of a 250,000-sf production plant and a 40,000-sf operations building providing corporate offices, a clinic, and a cafeteria. The facility is sited on 200 acres and will be accompanied by a 936-space parking area. The project team includes LAI Design Group and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie. Ground was broken on the project in March of 2018 and completion is expected in early 2019.

Merck will begin construction in the third quarter of 2018 on a biologics facility in County Dublin, Ireland. Located on Merck's 33-acre campus in Swords, the project includes the renovation and expansion of an existing 341,000-sf structure to create a 470,000-sf facility offering laboratory, production, and warehouse space. The state-of-the-art pharmaceutical plant will manufacture protein therapeutics derived from mammalian cell cultures. Occupancy is expected in 2021.

Thomas Jefferson University is planning to create the Jefferson Institute for Bioprocessing in Lower Gwynedd, Pa. Located at Spring House Innovation Park, the 25,000-sf facility is being developed in partnership with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) based in Dublin, Ireland. As the only center of its kind in North America, the project will leverage the renowned NIBRT curriculum to deliver state-of-the-art education and training programs in biopharmaceutical processing to approximately 2,500 people annually.

Saint-Gobain, a leading manufacturer of innovative building materials, has released the results of an occupant comfort study for its new North American headquarters in Malvern, Pa., a facility that has attained double LEED Platinum certification. Developed in partnership with the University of Oregon’s High Performance Environments Lab (HiPE), the longitudinal study revealed that a systems-based design approach utilizing multiple solutions and strategies can have a stronger collective impact on a building’s ability to optimize occupant comfort.

SAB Biotherapeutics will occupy 41,000 sf in University of South Dakota's Discovery District in Sioux Falls. SAB, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, will locate its corporate headquarters, research labs, and a cGMP suite in the 84,000-sf building, which was designed by Perkins+Will and Architecture Incorporated. Alumend, a subsidiary of Avera, will occupy 7,500 sf in the $31 million facility, which will also house the offices of the USD Discovery District and 20,000 sf of leasable space.

Infineon Technologies is planning to begin construction in mid-2019 on a 646,000-sf semiconductor manufacturing center in Villach, Austria. The company will invest $1.9 billion over six years in the creation of the facility, which will begin producing 300-millimeter wafers by 2021. Accommodating approximately 400 employees, the project will enable Infineon to meet an increased global demand for semiconductors to support the development of electric vehicles, battery technologies, data centers, and renewable energy systems.