Industry News

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) was awarded $4 million in federal funds in November of 2007 to acquire equipment for its Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL) in Memphis. As part of the Department of Defense's 2008 budget, the funding will provide sophisticated pathogen detection equipment for the study of emerging infectious diseases. Completion of the UTHSC RBL at the UT-Baptist Research Park is slated for summer of 2008.

Syracuse University is constructing the 230,000-sf Life Sciences Complex in Syracuse, N.Y. The project broke ground in April 2006 and is slated to reach completion in fall of 2008. Housing the departments of biology, chemistry, and biochemistry, the $107 million facility is the University's largest, most ambitious construction project to date. The five-story building is designed to foster interactive and interdisciplinary research, instruction, and training with a particular emphasis on cell signaling, biocomplexity, and environmental systems.

Schering-Plough has selected Skanska as the construction manager for a $60 million expansion of its Research Institute campus in Summit, N.J. The 200,000-sf expansion includes construction of a three story facility housing laboratories and warehouse space for drug development and production. The first phase of the project, a 1,350-space parking garage, was completed by Skanska in July of 2007. The facility will accommodate up to 3,000 workers upon completion in 2009.

Mississippi State University dedicated its new 40,000-sf agricultural and biological engineering building in Starkville on November 10, 2007. The three-story plus basement facility houses classrooms, offices, and research laboratories and replaces the 1950s-era Howell Engineering Building. The construction cost of the facility was $11 million. 

Microsoft opened Building 99 in Redmond, Wash. in November of 2007. Featuring flexible floor plans for optimal workplace customization, the new Microsoft Research headquarters can be adapted to accommodate changes in business groups. The facility houses individual offices, spaces with open floor plans, and alternative workspaces with removable walls. The building also includes a large atrium, meeting rooms, and places for spontaneous employee interaction. The new four-story facility is the first to open as part of a larger campus expansion and redevelopment plan.