Compliance

Virginia Tech is planning to break ground in spring of 2024 on a $292 million engineering building located in the North Academic District in Blacksburg. Replacing an existing structure, Mitchell Hall will act as a centralized hub for several departments including mechanical, chemical, aerospace, and ocean engineering. The five-story, 285,500-gsf development was designed by Perkins&Will to foster experiential learning with student collaboration spaces on every level.

Repurposing non-research facilities to house specialized life sciences and therapeutics labs is a growing trend sparked by real estate inventory and the fiscal practicality of renovation rather than new construction. The vacancy rate throughout the United States for lab space in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 6 percent versus 19.5 percent for office space, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate transparency index. The vacancy rates for 2021 were less than 4 percent for labs and approximately 15 percent for offices.

The Olivia Business Centre was awarded the highest WELL Health-Safety Rating in March of 2021 by the International WELL Building Institute. Located in Gdańsk, Poland, the eight-building corporate park offers 2.5 million sf of world-class office space and accommodates over 200 companies. Achieving 25 out of 25 available points in all WELL Health-Safety categories, the complex leverages advanced infrastructure to continue operations safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Features include:

Alexandria Real Estate Equities has attained the world's first WELL Health-Safety Rating for laboratory space at Alexandria LaunchLabs in New York City. Augmenting the center’s existing WELL certification for building design, the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facilities Operations and Management includes further measures to protect the health of tenants, employees, visitors, and service personnel. Protocols at Alexandria LaunchLabs include:

Empire State Realty Trust achieved the WELL Health-Safety Rating for its greater New York commercial properties in September of 2022. Representing 10.1 million rentable square feet, the portfolio comprises 14 office complexes, including the Empire State Building, and six stand-alone retail venues. 

Promoting confidence in the safe reoccupancy of facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management measures five categories: 

JAC Construction and its sister company Level 3 Design Group are partnering with Industrial Commercial Systems and Ultraviolet Devices (UVDI) to bring an advanced UV-C air disinfection solution to commercial and hospitality markets. The program, StayProtected, is a comprehensive approach that combines leading technology with holistic methods to help prevent the airborne transmission of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.

The COVID Consultants℠ and Better Efficiency Solutions & Technologies LLC (BEST) launched the COVIDefender™ Student Housing Portal in August 2020. Offering tools, guidance, and access to crucial information, the online service enables students and off-campus housing authorities to:

The University of North Dakota is planning to break ground in fall of 2020 on the $70 million Nistler College of Business and Public Administration in Grand Forks. Designed by JLG Architects, the four-story, 111,000-sf facility will offer highly flexible learning environments capable of accommodating a wide range of instructional modalities. Technology-enabled classrooms will support a combination of online and in-person instruction, with educational spaces right-sized for appropriate density metrics.

Songbird Life Science has launched a COVID-19 testing and health-protection service for facilities. Promoting public confidence in the occupancy of shared spaces, the company offers rapid onsite testing that provides results in minutes. 

Fitwel launched its Viral Response module in July of 2020. The platform provides annual, third-party building certification of policies and practices informed by the latest public health research on mitigating the spread of infectious diseases. Fitwel, a healthy building certification system operated by The Center for Active Design, was originally created by the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.