Industry News

Defense contractor Riverside Research completed a $7 million expansion of its Dayton campus in October of 2015. The project features the 20,200-sf Open Innovation Center, a collaborative and secure research environment providing multidisciplinary lab space for the study of computational electromagnetics, sensors, optical lasers, and space propulsion and communications. The 30,000-sf facility features a plasma chamber capable of simulating space conditions as well as an EMI-shielded suite.

The University of Glasgow opened the $35 million Sir Michael Stoker Building in October of 2015 on its Garscube campus in Scotland. Housing the Centre for Virus Research (CVR), the facility provides advanced laboratories for the study of human and veterinary virology. The building was created in partnership with the Medical Research Council and includes research offices and interaction areas. The project team included Sheppard Robson Architects, general contractor Laing O’Rourke, and engineering consultant Arup.

The siting of sensitive instruments in a research facility requires awareness of the electromagnetic field (EMF) environment and the various types and locations of emission sources. Some of the most difficult electromagnetic interference (EMI) challenges include DC and geomagnetic sources such as cars, trucks, subways, and trains, as well as facility elevators. The EMI footprint from the movement of an elevator through the earth’s magnetic field can exclude large areas of a facility from housing sensitive tools and instruments.

Rochester Institute of Technology opened the $15 million Clinical Health Sciences Center in October of 2015 in Henrietta, N.Y. The 45,000-sf facility provides technology-rich lecture rooms, simulation suites, and clinical research space for the College of Health Sciences and Technology. The two-story project also houses the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition, the Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-Regulation, and a primary care clinic operated by Rochester General Health System.

Montgomery County Community College broke ground in September of 2015 on the $32 million Health Sciences Center in Whitpain, Pa. The project includes 76,000 sf of new construction and a complete renovation of the existing physical education building. The completed 158,000-sf center will provide 14 classrooms, 10 seminar rooms, simulation labs, faculty offices, a dental hygiene clinic, and gymnasium facilities. Completion is expected in late 2016.