Industry News

Merck will renovate the former Schering-Plough headquarters in Kenilworth, N.J., to create a biologics research facility. The $120 million project will include 100,000 sf of new construction and will house 350 relocated employees. The facility will provide research space for the discovery of biological pharmaceutical products.

Brown University opened the $40 million Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts in February of 2011 in Providence, R.I. The three-story, 38,815-sf facility was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and features a 218-seat auditorium, four production studios, a recording studio, and a multimedia lab. The Cogut Physical Media Lab will support research on sensors, robotics, and physical computing. The project was built by Shawmut Design and Construction.

Trinity College Dublin will build the $69 million South East Corner Development to house the School of Engineering and the School of Natural Sciences. The 161,458-sf facility will provide advanced research laboratories and teaching spaces. Healy Kelly Turner & Townsend is the project manager. The sustainably designed facility will be built in phases with initial occupancy in 2014 and final completion expected in 2017.

Texas A&M University has selected Skanska USA to construct the $34 million Arts and Humanities Building in College Station. The 107,000-sf facility will house the Department of English, the Department of Performance Studies, and the Institute for Digital Humanities, Media and Culture. The building will provide advanced classrooms, studios, rehearsal rooms, music teaching labs, and offices. Completion is slated for summer of 2012.

Siemens will build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing facility in the Port of Hull in the United Kingdom. The construction cost of the production plant is estimated at $130 million.