Industry News

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory celebrated the opening of the Facility for Low-Energy Experiments on Buildings (FLEXLAB) in July of 2014. Designed to be the world’s most advanced building efficiency facility, the lab will support collaborative research with companies and utilities to reduce energy use by testing, evaluating, and deploying energy technologies as integrated systems under real-world conditions.

NorthStar broke ground in July of 2014 on a 50,000-sf radioisotope production facility in Beloit, Wis. The project will accommodate support operations for the company’s facility at the University of Missouri’s Research Reactor and is expected to reach completion by early 2015. A second construction phase will create a 20,000-sf addition and is slated for completion by year-end 2016.

Bayer CropScience will begin construction in late summer of 2014 on a $29.6 million expansion of its seed research headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The project includes extensive infrastructure development and construction of a 29,500-sf greenhouse to support the study of nematode traits, plant diseases, and insects.

The College of DuPage is planning to build a $50 million teaching facility in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Providing between 75,000 to 100,000 sf of instructional space, the project will feature two 50-seat science classrooms, four 25-seat computer classrooms, a computer lab, and other learning areas. The building will also house faculty offices, a student commons, and a multipurpose room.

The American Institute of Architects has announced the release of seven updated design-build contract documents. Building on the core strengths of the 2004 edition documents while enhancing the early interaction between the owner and the design-builder, the 2014 Design-Build documents call for clearly defined and mandated owner’s criteria for the project and require the submission of a preliminary design by the design-builder.