Industry News

Florida Technical College began construction in March of 2011 on a 40,000-sf instructional facility in Orlando. The building is located on seven acres in the Central Florida Research Park. Lincoln Property Company is the developer, construction manager, and property manager for the project. The design architect is Leonard Feinburg and the general contractor is First Builders. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2011.

Eastern Michigan University's new $90 million, energy-efficient addition to and renovation of the Mark Jefferson Science Building is a green design and construction project pursuing LEED silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent's Ann Arbor, Mich., office, the building features a planetarium/classroom, a green roof, a rain garden, and employs stormwater management and daylighting. Phase 1 of the project, an 80,000-sf addition, was completed in December of 2010.

UC San Diego will open the $227 million Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center in April of 2011. The four-story, 128,000-sf facility is located adjacent to Thornton Hospital in San Diego. The multidisciplinary center will provide comprehensive cardiovascular care with an expanded emergency department, four operating rooms, six catheterization labs, 22 outpatient beds, and 54 inpatient beds. The facility will also support medical training for UC San Diego Medical Center.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) began construction in February of 2011 on a $218 million vitrification facility in Tokyo. Vitrification creates a solidified glass material from radioactive liquid waste generated by reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear power stations. The facility is slated for completion in March of 2013. The project will provide research space and test furnaces for the development of vitrification processes and technologies.

Swinburne University of Technology opened the $140 million Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) in March of 2010 in Melbourne. Located on the Hawthorn campus, the 10-story building comprises two towers and has a footprint of 21,528 sf. Designed by H2o of Melbourne, the facility features maximum transparency to display technological innovations to the public. The ATC houses classrooms, engineering labs, a 500-seat lecture hall, and the Smart Structures Laboratory, where construction materials are tested with the application of extreme loads.