Industry News

Easton College is planning to build the £9 million Jubilee3 academic facility in Norwich, U.K. Part of a £21 million campus improvement plan, the instructional building will feature a green roof, natural ventilation, ground source heating, and a wall constructed entirely of glazing. The facility will provide a living laboratory for the college’s degree program in sustainable engineering. Jubilee3 will house two labs, classrooms, flexible learning space, a 100-seat lecture hall, and a café. Occupancy is expected in summer of 2010.

Florida Atlantic University will initiate construction in spring of 2010 on the Harbor Branch Research Laboratory II in St. Lucie, Fla. Designed by PGAL with RFD (Research Facilities Design) as laboratory design consultant, the 40,000-gsf project will house research labs, lab support, and offices. The facility will provide 16,500-nsf of state-of-the-art laboratory space and will be built to meet LEED Silver sustainable design criteria.

The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation opened its 9,000-sf vaccine manufacturing facility in Rockville, Md., in April of 2009. The project will support tuberculosis vaccine development and production, as well as research into aerosol vaccine formulations. The BSL-2 facility was built by general contractor Whiting-Turner of Baltimore.

Texas A&M University will begin construction on a new campus in Killeen in fall of 2010. Sited on 672 acres, Texas A&M University-Central Texas will be built on land transferred from the U.S. Army. Completion of the first 150,000-sf classroom and office building is slated for late 2011. The project will enable Tarleton State University to become part of the A&M system. Tarleton State University will change its name to Texas A&M University-Central Texas and will issue $25 million in bonds to fund construction of the new campus.

Roche opened a $4.4 million pharmaceutical research facility in Madison, Wis., in April of 2009. The project involved renovation of a 24,000-sf building in the University of Madison Research Park to house R&D laboratories for the study of RNA interference and gene therapy. The facility will house 45 employees.