Industry News

The Department of Energy is planning a $1 billion expansion of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. A second target station will be constructed at the pulsed neutron scattering facility with completion slated for 2020. The project will support materials science and microscale biological research.

Sharp Memorial Hospital opened the $195 million Stephen Birch Healthcare Center in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego in January of 2009. The seven-story, 334-bed facility features entirely private rooms with flat-screen televisions, two nursing stations per floor for optimal patient monitoring, and additional emergency and trauma center beds. The construction manager for the 315,000-sf acute care tower was Gilbane Building Co.

Ochsner Baptist Medical Center opened a $12 million expansion of its Uptown New Orleans campus in January of 2009. Comprised of a 6,000-sf emergency department, a 12-bed ICU, and a 43-bed inpatient wing featuring entirely private rooms, the project includes a comprehensive imaging center with MRI and CT instruments, six surgical suites, and two cardiac catheterization suites. The expansion was designed by Rozas/Ward Architects with Construction South as general contractor.

North Carolina State University is planning to build the $126 million James B. Hunt Jr. Library in Raleigh. Located on NCSU’s Centennial Campus, the facility will house the Institute for Emerging Issues, collections on engineering, textiles, and science, and space for collaborative research projects. The facility is being designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta. Completion is expected in 2012.

California State University, Fullerton has awarded the team of Steinberg Architects and PCL Construction Services a $118 million design-build contract to construct a five-story student housing complex. Designed to attain LEED Gold certification, the project will provide 1,080 beds and a dining facility.