Ground Breaking

Wake Forest University and Atrium Health are partnering with Wexford Science & Technology to construct the 360,942-sf Howard R. Levine Center for Education in Charlotte. Designed by Ayers Saint Gross and CO Architects, the 14-story project will provide Wake Forest University School of Medicine with world-class teaching labs, active learning classrooms, and areas for formal and informal collaboration.

Designs by ZMM Architects and Engineers and CannonDesign are underway for a new facility that will bring together under one roof three West Virginia state laboratories and researchers from two universities, creating novel opportunities for collaboration. McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie (MWL) are the lab planners for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and State Police Forensics, and Potesta & Associates are providing civil engineering services. Housed in the new building will be:

Michigan State University (MSU) and Henry Ford Health have joined forces to construct the $335 million Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Research Center, which will house 84 principal investigators and their research teams focused on cancer, neuroscience, infectious diseases, immunology, and public health. The first floor will accommodate a large core lab including an imaging suite. An entire floor will be dedicated to the Nick Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Research Institute.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground in May of 2024 on the College of Letters & Science’s new Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, a 136,000-sf facility that will serve as the new home for eight academic departments. The building was designed by Bora Architecture & Interiors in collaboration with Ramlow/Stein Architecture + Interiors, with C.D. Smith Construction serving as the construction manager.

Siemens Healthineers—a spinoff of Siemens that focuses exclusively on healthcare equipment, solutions, and services—has begun construction on a £250 million ($314 million) facility in the United Kingdom to research and manufacture a breakthrough sustainable design for MRI superconducting magnets that reduces the need for helium from 1,500 liters (more than 396 gallons) to a single liter (just over a quart). 

Construction has begun on the Marine Research Institute and Sea Turtle Research Center and Hospital at the University of Florida’s Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience. The building, designed by Lord Aeck Sargent and TTV Architects, is planned for LEED Gold certification. DPR is the construction manager.

Texas A&M-Texarkana is planning to break ground in late May of 2024 on the Business, Engineering, and Technology Building (BET), a 53,500-sf facility housing those three interdisciplinary programs. The $45 million project also includes a renovation of the Science and Technology Building, which will connect to the new facility with walkways on the second and third floors.

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) broke ground in May of 2024 on the 68,000-sf, $109.7 million Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), a laboratory and office facility designed by SmithGroup and dedicated to research in the fields of microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences, with a focus on achieving fusion energy by 2040. 

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) has announced the 2024 Facility of the Year Awards category winners. The awards include:

Phase 3 Real Estate Partners and Bain Capital completed construction in February of 2024 on Genesis Marina, a waterfront life sciences campus in Brisbane, Calif. Offering floor plates of up to 42,000 sf, the three-building complex provides over 560,000 rsf of Class A laboratory and office space. Every research suite is equipped with a modular benching system that is pre-plumbed and pre-wired for fast installation and effortless reconfiguration.

The University of Toronto is building the Academic Wood Tower to provide additional program space for the Rotman School of Management, the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education. Designed by Patkau Architects and MJMA, the 14-story structure is sited atop a robust foundation and first floor that was created during the construction of the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

Boston University opened the $305 million Center for Computing & Data Sciences in early 2023 to create a dynamic new home for the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, and the Computer Science program. Designed by KPMB Architects, the 19-story, 345,000-sf structure comprises a four-story podium topped by 13 floors, with MEP systems located on additional basement and penthouse levels.

The $388 million Surat Diamond Bourse opened in December of 2023 to provide a vibrant corporate destination for Gujarat’s diamond industry. Surpassing the Pentagon in size, the 7.1 million-sf complex includes nine 15-story towers linked by a central spine. Approximately 4,700 modular offices that can also serve as cutting and polishing workshops will support the endeavors of over 65,000 diamond professionals.

Bowdoin College has opened a sustainably designed complex in Brunswick that includes the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies and Barry Mills Hall. Designed by HGA, the two structures represent the first commercially scaled mass timber buildings in the state of Maine. The $37 million project offers a total of 46,000 sf of teaching, research, and museum space.

HITT Contracting will relocate its headquarters to a planned 270,000-sf development in Falls Church, Va. Designed by Gensler, the six-story facility will advance the firm's aspiration to redefine the future of construction through innovation, partnership, and sustainability. The project involves the transformation of an existing office structure, previously a satellite campus operated by Virginia Tech, into a collaborative educational hub for the built environment.