Industry News

Vanderbilt Medical Center will begin construction in fall of 2010 on a $30 million expansion of Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. The 30,000-sf addition will provide 33 inpatient beds, a neonatal ICU, surgical suites, and research space. The design architect for the project is Earl Swensson Associates. The five-story addition will be built atop the existing pediatric emergency department.

BloodCenter of Wisconsin will build out 7,000 sf of shell space at its Milwaukee Blood Research Institute facility to create a 4,771-sf stem cell research laboratory. Supported by $2.9 million in federal stimulus funding, the project will provide 10 modules and adjacent alcoves, a 1,655-nsf core lab, and GMP cleanroom manufacturing space.

The University of North Carolina is constructing the $87 million Dental Sciences Building in Chapel Hill. The five-story, 216,000-sf building will house research, academic, preclinical, and administrative facilities. The architect of record for the project is Flad Architects with KBR as general contractor. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility. Completion is expected in January of 2012.

Purdue University is planning to construct the $20 million Drug Discovery Facility in West Lafayette, Ind. Construction is expected to begin in summer of 2011 with completion in spring of 2013. The facility will replace existing space in the Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry.

Swinburne University of Technology is partnering with Suntech Power Holdings to create the Victoria-Suntech Advanced Solar Facility (VSASF) in Melbourne. The project will support the commercialization of nanoplasmonic solar cell technology.