Industry News

The £11 million Higgs Centre for Innovation will be built at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland. Accommodating research in advanced data processing, particle physics, quantum computing, and astronomical instrumentation, the laboratory will be located at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre and will be operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Designed to foster collaboration with the private sector, the Higgs Centre will house leasable space for up to 12 industry partners. Occupancy is expected in 2016.

Methodist Healthcare is initiating a $200 million expansion of its San Antonio campus. Adding approximately 500,000 sf to Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children's Hospital, the project involves construction of two new patient towers in the South Texas Medical Center. Over 90 percent of the facilities' inpatient space will be converted to private rooms and both emergency departments will be enlarged. Completion is expected in 2017.

The University of Canterbury will begin construction in mid-2014 on the $212 million Regional Science and Innovation Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand. Providing technology-rich classrooms and laboratories to support progressive science pedagogies, the facility will accommodate a variety of learning modalities including small laboratory discovery groups, online instruction, and face-to-face teaching.

The New School will open its $372 million University Center in New York in January of 2014. The facility will act as an interdisciplinary hub for all of the university's programs. The 16-story, 375,000-sf building includes seven floors of academic space with dormitories on the remaining nine. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the facility will provide a 600-seat auditorium, flexible classrooms, lecture halls, learning studios, a library, student and faculty resource rooms, and an event café.

Cook Children’s Medical Center will begin construction in January of 2014 on a $349 million expansion of its Fort Worth campus. The project includes construction of a six-story, 314,000-sf tower and a two-story, 16,560-sf utility plant. A cardiology center, additional exam rooms, and lab space will be built. Cook's existing facility will also be renovated; the emergency department will be expanded and surgical suites will be enlarged and upgraded.