Industry News

The University of California, Irvine will initiate construction in fall of 2008 on the $60.5 million Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. Funded by an award of $27.2 million in May of 2008 from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the 61,575-sf facility will house up to 26 researchers and is slated for completion in July of 2010. The three-story building will include a core stem cell lab, cell culture facilities, imaging, clinical space, and biotechnology training facilities.

Suffolk New College celebrated the topping out of its £69 million Ipswich campus in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2008. The 22,000-sm instructional complex will contain lecture halls and classrooms in two blocks constructed around a central triangular atrium. Occupancy is expected in September of 2009. The project team includes architect Sheppard Robson and general contractor Morgan Ashurst.

London Health Sciences Centre has selected EllisDon Corporation to construct and finance an expansion and renovation of Victoria Hospital in London, ON, Canada. The $211.8 million project includes completion of 465,000-sf of shell space in the North Tower and renovations of existing facilities totaling 100,000-sf.

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is constructing a 425,000-sf patient tower in Wauwatosa. The 12-story facility will increase bed count from 236 to 294, with the ability to add an additional 72 beds in the future. Completion is slated for 2009. Children’s is also partnering with the Medical College of Wisconsin to construct a 298,000-sf, $140 million translational research facility.

The National Institutes of Health awarded Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) a $20 million Clinical and Translational Science Award in June of 2008. STSI is a collaboration between The Scripps Research Institute and Scripps Health in partnership with other San Diego institutions. The award will support biomedical research in genomics, stem cells, and applications of wireless technology.