Construction Cost

The University of Washington broke ground in April of 2018 on the $230 million Population Health Building in Seattle. Designed by The Miller Hull Partnership to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, the 290,000-sf facility will house the Department of Global Health, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and a portion of the School of Public Health. The project is being constructed using a Progressive Design-Build (PDB) delivery method with Lease Crutcher Lewis as construction manager.

A new approach to the design of diagnostic labs in resource-constrained settings reduces risk and improves outcomes while accelerating the project timeline and lowering costs. The approach is based on the concept of One Prototype, which uses similar design modules as a starting point for each lab facility, whether new construction or renovation, no matter what the scale.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is expanding its campus in Barnard Castle in the United Kingdom with the construction of a $130 million liquid biopharmaceuticals production plant. The 124,000-sf aseptic sterile facility will make injectable liquids for the treatment of respiratory and autoimmune diseases and is slated for completion by November of 2019. Building Information Modeling (BIM) and offsite construction methodologies are being implemented in the delivery of the project, which includes the specification that the building can be replicated anywhere in the world.

Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the fourth quarter of 2017. Key points include:

Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has mandated that Building Information Modeling (BIM) be implemented in the final phase of its $9 billion construction program. LACCD, which is the largest community college district in the United States and comprises nine colleges, is also targeting net-zero energy consumption in the sustainable development of its extensive portfolio.

The American National Standards Institute published APPA 1000-1 in January of 2018, creating the first national standard for Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the United States. The standard identifies and defines the foundational elements and the structure required to implement TCO principles for facilities. It is essential that the entire cost of purchasing and owning a building through its lifetime is understood by all stakeholders, especially before finalizing design plans for new construction.

Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the third quarter of 2017. Key points include:

There are positive signs that funding for scientific research will not only be maintained, but will once again increase. Earlier this month, the Senate Appropriations Committee overwhelmingly approved $36.1 billion for the National Institutes of Health for the upcoming fiscal year. If approved intact, it will mark the third consecutive year that the NIH receives a $2 billion increase. The House Appropriations Committee already approved a $1.1 billion increase.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) recently completed the construction and fit-out of their new Life Science Laboratories after receiving a $95 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC)—a quasi-state agency dedicated to growing the state’s life sciences industry. The new interdisciplinary research wing features state-of-the-art equipment and core resources that will be shared across multiple research teams and industry partnerships. While the new core labs were built into a pre-existing shell with an open floorplate and operational MEP, the final design was driven by the cost-intensive equipment list. Since the agency grant designated a specific amount of funding for the equipment, the type of equipment was known but exact model and vendor was not known before many of the other design and programming decisions were made. 

Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the second quarter of 2017. Key points include:

Five years ago, Tradeline sought experts to predict the future—specifically, the future of research lab design and construction. Today, we take a look back at those predictions, and gather some new ones, looking at trends in research programs and funding, and how those trends affect the decisions institutions are making when they build and renovate their laboratory spaces.

Replacing the traditional penthouse with a ground-breaking sidehouse, the new Health Sciences Building at Canada’s Carleton University represents the latest step in the evolution of academic science facilities. Along with reflecting today’s emphasis on open labs and interdisciplinary collaboration, the building’s fresh approach to utilities distribution improves overall design, lab efficiency, and adaptability for future fit-outs and changes—all while adhering to a very tight budget and construction schedule.

Brasfield & Gorrie’s virtual design and construction team is utilizing DroneDeploy software to enhance site planning, design, and safety. Drones can rapidly capture aerial images of a building site, and drone mapping software produces 3D point clouds for integration with Building Information Modeling (BIM) and virtual reality platforms. Brasfield & Gorrie has equipped each of their regional offices with DJI Inspire series drones which upload data to the DroneDeploy dashboard.

The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa will begin construction in late 2017 on the $50 million Life Sciences Building in Honolulu. Designed to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, the four-story, 45,000-sf facility will provide the College of Natural Sciences with classrooms, teaching and research laboratories, lab support spaces, and offices. Accommodating the departments of biology, microbiology, and botany, the building will also house the Pacific Biosciences Research Center and the Biological Electron Microscope Facility.

All lab work—experiments, equipment usage, write-ups—occurs on countertops, but these flat horizontal surfaces are rapidly changing. “Today, lab work surfaces need to be adaptable, flexible, ergonomic, mobile, reconfigurable, versatile, sustainable, design-oriented, aesthetically pleasing, cost-effective, and easy to install,” says Arnulf Penker, president of FunderMax, a designer and producer of wood-based materials and compact laminates in St. Veit an der Glan, Austria.