Industry News

Seminole State College began renovating a 93,000-sf instructional facility on its Lake Mary/Sanford campus in August of 2010. The project team includes HuntonBrady Architects of Orlando and construction manager Wharton-Smith. The three-story facility will be reconfigured to include student lounges, an atrium, and a glass curtainwall. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the building, which will feature natural lighting and energy-efficient building systems.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture broke ground on the second phase of construction at the ARS Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC) in August of 2010 in Hilo, Hawaii. Phase 2 will support research on exotic tropical crops, alternative energy sources, and sustainable agriculture with additional offices, screen houses, and head houses.

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is planning to build a new pediatric medical center in Avondale, Ariz. The first phase includes a $33.5 million, 35,800-sf specialty/urgent care center and an outpatient clinic with 25 exam rooms and two treatment rooms. A 35,700-sf medical office building will be built in phase two. A planned third phase of construction will include a 48-bed, 95,800-sf pediatric hospital.

The University of Missouri School of Medicine opened its 9,000-sf Neuroscience Center in August of 2010. The $1.4 million facility was created by renovating existing laboratory space on the seventh floor of the Medical Sciences building in Columbia, Mo. Construction began on the project in September of 2009.

Networking solutions provider Brocade opened its 75,000-sf R&D laboratory and data center in August of 2010 in San Jose, Calif. Five engineering labs and three data centers were consolidated with the new facility, resulting in a 37 percent reduction in energy consumption and eliminating 4,450 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The data center has a calculated Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric of 1.3, while comparable data centers usually have a PUE greater than 1.5.