Industry News

Fraunhofer Institute for Circuits and Systems (IMS) completed a €26.2 million RFID research building in Duisburg, Germany, in early summer of 2009. The three-story InHaus2 facility provides laboratories and offices for developing advanced radio frequency identification tags, including building monitoring and construction technologies. The general contractor for the project was Hochtief.

City University of New York is constructing phase one of the $59 million Advanced Science Research Center. The 200,000-sf laboratory building will support research in photonics, nanotechnology, water and environmental sensing, structural biology, and neuroscience. Featuring a core cleanroom for diagnosis and fabrication, the Advanced Science Research Center will house advanced imaging instrumentation, a rooftop observatory, a 100-seat auditorium, a café, and an education center.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai opened its £100 million European Knowledge Centre in Hatfield, U.K., in early July of 2009. Located on 14.5 acres in the Hatfield Business Park, the facility will accommodate 500 employees. The project includes a research laboratory, a manufacturing facility, an office building, and shared facilities. The European Knowledge Centre integrates the functions of discovery research, clinical development, production, packaging, marketing, and administration. 

Texas A&M University broke ground on the Citrus Center in Weslaco on June 30, 2009. Designed by Kell Munoz of San Antonio, the research facility is slated for completion in summer of 2010. The two-story Citrus Center will house research labs, diagnostic labs, meeting rooms, classrooms, administrative offices, and faculty offices. A large open laboratory will feature tissue culture areas, a cold room, and a mass spectrometer. The facility will support research on citrus fruit growth and production.

SGS North America opened a new 16,500-sf state-of-the-art facility in May in Deer Park, Texas. The Houston office of LCS Constructors used the design-build method of project delivery, and completed the project in nine months. More than 75% of the building is lab space for comprehensive laboratory testing services to support SGS’s regional as well as global customers. The facility handles petroleum, petrochemical and agricultural products, biofuels, LPG, LNG, and other commodities in accordance with ASTM, IP, UOP, ISO, and EN methods.