Industry News

The University of Central Oklahoma is building the $8.5 million Center for Transformative Learning in Edmond. Designed by Frankfurt Short Bruza Associates, the 33,000-sf facility will house progressive instruction in 11 classrooms, an outdoor classroom, and informal learning spaces. The facility will promote interactive and collaborative learning instead of lecture based pedagogy. Completion is slated for May of 2010.

The National Institutes of Health was awarded a 36 percent increase in annual funding as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. The NIH will receive $10.4 billion in addition to its existing annual budget of $29 billion. The new funding will allocate $1 billion to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) for renovation and new construction of extramural research facilities and $300 million for shared instrumentation. $500 million will support renovation and new construction for NIH’s intramural facilities.

Gold Coast University Hospital broke ground in February of 2009 on its $1.55 billion healthcare facility Molendinar, Queensland, Australia. The 10-story teaching and research hospital will be comprised of two towers providing 750 beds. The sustainably designed facility is being built by Bovis Lend Lease and is slated for completion by December of 2012.

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences broke ground on the $38.7 million Forensic Sciences and Biomedical Research Facility in Tulsa in February of 2009. Created in partnership with the City of Tulsa, the five-story, 160,000-sf building will house laboratories for biomedical research and forensic analysis. Occupancy is slated for fall of 2010.

Nemours Children’s Hospital broke ground on its $400 million facility in the Lake Nona area of Orlando in February of 2009. The 62,000-sf, 95-bed pediatric hospital will include an emergency department, ambulatory care, and research facilities. Occupancy is expected in 2012.