Industry News

The University of Hawaii is planning to build the $47.5 Pacific Health Research Lab in Kalaeloa in West Oahu. The 31,000-sf facility will provide biocontainment laboratories for the study of emerging infectious diseases. The project will be a Regional Biosafety Laboratory and is supported by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The District of Columbia opened the $210 million Consolidated Forensic Laboratory in October of 2012 in Washington. The 351,000-sf (287,000-nsf) facility provides diagnostic labs for public health, autopsies, DNA testing, and the investigation of bioterrorism threats. The eight-story building includes two floors below grade and includes a BSL-3 suite.

The Saskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory opened a CL3 biocontainment facility in September of 2012. The lab is sited on the campus of the University of Regina and will provide rapid specimen testing for infectious disease identification and response. The facility is located in a three-story, 107,639-sf building that was completed in May of 2010. 

Washington State University dedicated the Paul G. Allen Center for Global Animal Health in September of 2012 in Pullman, Wash. The three-story, 62,000-sf facility features a 5,000-sf BSL-3 laboratory for infectious disease research as well as two floors of BSL-2 research space and an administrative wing housing offices and conference rooms. The facility was designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects and built by Bouten Construction.

Tufts University School of Medicine will begin construction in fall of 2012 on the 1,700-sf Arnold 8 Biosafety Laboratory. The BSL-3 facility will be located in the Biomedical Research and Public Health Building in Boston and will support interdisciplinary research on tuberculosis. The estimated cost of construction is $3.5 million. Completion is expected in 2013.