Strategic Plans

Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield launched the Recovery Readiness Task Force (RRTF) in April of 2020 to lead the development of best practices, products, and partnerships to prepare clients for post-pandemic recovery and the eventual return to the workplace. Drawing on innovative strategies for design, construction, facilities management, and commercial cleaning protocols, the task force will offer a toolkit with step-by-step protocols for tenants and landlords to use as they begin planning the transition back to the workplace.

The U.S. Department of Energy is planning to begin construction in 2021 on the $75 million Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Designed as a resource hub for the development of next-generation grid energy storage technologies, the R&D facility will provide labs for basic materials synthesis and processing, in-operando characterization, small-scale cell fabrication, kilowatt-scale testing and validation, advanced prototyping, visualization, and analysis.

AMS CAD + CAFM Solutions is offering a webinar on a Phase One approach to leveraging technology to assist in the gradual transition back to the workplace. "How Technology Can Help Transition Back to the Workplace" will review areas of planning an initial return of employees to the workplace and how technology can assist in many areas from seating for social distancing to hoteling and hardware.

Virginia Tech is planning to break ground in fall of 2021 on the first academic building on its Innovation Campus in Alexandria. Designed by SmithGroup, the 300,000-gsf facility will offer experiential learning environments, maker spaces, flexible multipurpose venues, and research and testing labs for the school's graduate programs in computer science and engineering. The sustainably designed structure will feature a façade with integrated photovoltaic panels, a rooftop solar array, and geothermal and sewage water energy exchange technologies.

G|M Business Interiors is offering the Workplace for Breakfast webinar series in April and May of 2020. Topics related to remote working will be explored, including preparation strategies for the return to the physical workplace. Sessions include:

Purdue University is building the $64 million Chaney-Hale Hall of Science in West Lafayette, Ind. Accommodating STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the collaborative 111,000-sf facility will provide 33 multidisciplinary laboratory classrooms for courses in general and organic chemistry, biochemistry, general biology, microbiology, cellular and molecular biology, and anatomy and physiology. Undergraduate science teaching labs will be collocated, launching novel opportunities for new, integrated curricula.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is constructing an $800 million manufacturing campus in East Greenbush, N.Y. The complex is now in the third and final phase of development, which includes an $188 million, 346,000-sf production facility; a 240,000-sf lab and office building; and a six-story, 1,050-space parking garage. BBL Construction Services is managing the project with completion expected by 2022.

The University of South Florida broke ground on a $42 million innovation center in Tampa in March of 2020. Located in the USF Research Park, the 120,000-sf facility will provide researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry partners with leasable laboratory, office, and meeting facilities. Designed by Gensler, the three-story building will act as a catalyst for regional economic growth through the creation and commercialization of new technologies.

The Texas A&M University System is creating a $546 million complex at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. A renovated 18-story structure will accommodate the groundbreaking Engineering Medicine (EnMed) program when it opens in summer of 2020. Two new towers will be developed through a public-private partnership (P3). Slated for completion in June of 2022, a 365,000-sf residential facility will offer 572 units providing 704 beds for medical and nursing students, and a 1.2 million-sf parking garage will accommodate 3,444 cars.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory (SEL) opened a $20 million R&D facility in February of 2020 in West Lafayette, Ind. Located in Purdue University's Discovery Park District, the three-story, 100,000-sf building offers leading-edge laboratory and support space for electric power research, development, and manufacturing.

The University of Connecticut is planning to construct the $240 million Science 1 building in Storrs. Housing the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, the 198,000-sf facility will offer a 240-seat active learning room, specialized research labs, teaching labs, core labs, computational labs, a cleanroom, and faculty and administrative offices.

Emory University Hospital is constructing the $475 million Winship at Midtown in Atlanta. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in collaboration with May Architecture + Interiors, the 17-story, 450,000-sf facility will provide the Winship Cancer Institute with integrated research and clinical spaces for the delivery of innovative personalized therapies.

Emory Healthcare is building the 180,000-sf Emory Musculoskeletal Institute in Brookhaven, Ga. Part of the $1 billion Executive Park development, the facility will provide comprehensive orthopaedic services including spine care, physical therapy, imaging, and ambulatory surgery. The building will also include support space for clinical and discovery research.

George Mason University is planning to build a digital innovation campus in Arlington, Va. Creating a collaborative hub for research, education, and entrepreneurship, the project includes the demolition of an existing structure and the construction of a 360,500-gsf mixed-use facility and parking garage. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, the $200 million building will house the School of Computing, the Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA), and corporate R&D labs with co-working spaces.

The University of California, Davis has selected Wexford Science + Technology and GMH Capital Partners to develop the first phase of Aggie Square in Sacramento. The two firms will finance, design, construct, and own the facilities, which will include 250,000 sf of classroom and co-working space, 500,000 sf of engineering, science, and technology space, 30,000 sf of ground-floor public space, and approximately 200 housing units.