Industry News

Macquarie University will build the $108 million Australian Hearing Hub in Sydney. The medical research, teaching, and training facility will house the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, and the Shepherd Centre. The building will support research and treatment for hearing and speech-related disorders.

The Medical Center of the Americas is in the design stage in El Paso, Texas. Created by a consortium of academic and industry partners including the University of Texas and Texas Tech, the planned 140-acre biomedical research complex will support commercialization of pharmaceutical therapies. The first phase of the project will include construction of an 80,000-sf facility on 10 acres in central El Paso. A subsequent phase of construction will deliver two additional buildings at the site.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is planning to build a $22 million biomanufacturing facility in Fall River, Mass. The building will be the first facility in a proposed 300-acre biotechnology park.

Composites Horizons Inc. (CHI) is expanding its manufacturing operations in Covina, Calif. CHI currently occupies two buildings at the site and will renovate a third 41,000-sf facility. The completed project will include a 2,300-sf polyimide cleanroom. Composites Horizons is part of the Aerostructures & Composites division of U.K.-based Hampson Group.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched a new competition for grants in January of 2011 to support the construction of new or expanded scientific research facilities at institutions of higher education and nonprofit scientific research organizations. Through the NIST Construction Grant Program (NCGP), the agency expects $20 million to be available for grants ranging from $5 to $10 million over a period of no more than five years.