Bioprocessing

The University of Illinois officially broke ground on the $24 million Integrated Bioprocessing Laboratory in Urbana in October of 2014. Part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, the facility will feature a biofuels pilot plant for UI's Center for BioEnergy Research. Supporting collaborative development with industry partners, the 43,000-sf lab will provide two classrooms, flexible processing suites with moveable walls, and 300-liter fermenters for biofuels testing.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will build a 323,000-sf biologics manufacturing facility in Dublin, Ireland. Located on the company's existing pharmaceutical production campus, the building will provide open labs and offices, six 15,000-liter bioreactors, and a purification area. The estimated construction cost of the project is $900 million. The facility will accommodate up to 400 employees and is expected to be fully operational in 2019.

Grifols’ North Fractionation Facility in Clayton, N.C., has been named the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) 2014 Facility of the Year for Project Execution. Fluor provided integrated engineering, procurement, construction management, and front-end qualification for this 150,000-sf blood plasma fractionation facility, which was built using modular construction techniques to meet an aggressive construction schedule, incorporate new centrifuge technology, and expand existing plant utilities.

Baxter Healthcare is building a $1 billion biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Covington, Ga. Located in the Stanton Springs development, the 1 million-sf complex will provide laboratories, manufacturing space, testing suites, and warehouse and distribution facilities to support the production of advance plasma-based therapeutics. Construction manager Fluor broke ground on the project in August of 2012 and completion is expected in 2016. Commercial production of biologics will commence in 2018 at the campus, which will accommodate 1,500 employees.

Non-residential construction volumes and pricing continued their upward trend in the second quarter, with prices increasing an average of 2 to 4 percent in the first half of 2013. These factors, along with growing market confidence and a narrowing labor supply, will continue to push new construction costs closer to the trend line for the near to medium term.

Nanoviricides began construction in August of 2013 on a clinical scale cGMP production plant in Shelton, Conn. Designed by Id3A, the project includes renovation of an existing 18,000-sf facility to provide research labs, offices, and a cGMP pharmaceutical manufacturing suite with cleanrooms for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The project manager and engineering consultant for the renovation is MPH Engineering. Completion is expected in early 2014.

Continued signs of stable economic growth indicate that the recovery is gaining momentum in many parts of the United States and Canada. Construction selling prices for institutional projects grew at a 6 percent annualized rate in 2012, on top of a 3 percent increase in 2011. Construction costs are expected to continue stabilizing and rising in many regions as market confidence and capital spending increase.

Bristol-Myers Squibb will break ground in late 2013 on two biologics manufacturing facilities at its existing campus in Devens, Mass. The $250 million, 200,000-sf expansion will provide laboratories and offices for biologics research, manufacturing, and development. Completion is expected in 2015.

NanoViricides will renovate an existing 18,000-sf facility in Shelton, Conn., to create a cGMP pilot plant. Designed by Id3A, the facility will include research laboratories, offices, and a cGMP pharmaceutical manufacturing suite. The project manager and engineering consultant for the renovation is MPH Engineering.

Novartis will invest $500 million to construct a cell-based biomanufacturing facility in Singapore. Located adjacent to its existing pharmaceutical plant in Tuas, the new biologics center will support both clinical and commercial production of biological therapies such as monoclonal antibodies. Construction will begin in early 2013 with full operations commencing in late 2016.

GE Healthcare introduced KUBio, a modular biopharmaceutical laboratory, in September of 2012. The 12,916-sf facility is prefabricated and delivered with a complete production line of GE's advanced technologies for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The total planning, delivery, and construction time for installation of KUBio is between 14 and 18 months. 

Genzyme Corporation's $85 million Biologics Support Center has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Located in Framingham, Mass., the six-story, 186,000-sf facility provides laboratories, technical support, offices, conference rooms, manufacturing, R&D space, and a data center. The project was designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge and was completed in July of 2011.

Baxter International broke ground in August of 2012 on a $1 billion biologics manufacturing complex east of Atlanta near Covington, Ga. Located in the Stanton Springs development, the facility will support the creation of advanced plasma-based therapeutics and will accommodate 1,500 employees. Completion of the first manufacturing building is expected in 2015. Other buildings on site will house testing laboratories and warehouse space; completion is expected in 2016. Commercial production will commence in 2018.

Healthpoint Biotherapeutics will begin construction in mid-2012 on a renovation of its 80,000-sf research and manufacturing campus in Fort Worth, Texas. The new facilities will comprise 25,000 sf of advanced manufacturing infrastructure, laboratories, and clean rooms for the production of cell-based therapies. Healthpoint will invest approximately $60 million to build out and staff the research and manufacturing facility over the next few years.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth broke ground on the Massachusetts Accelerator for Biomanufacturing (MAB) in Fall River in May of 2012. Upon completion in fall of 2013, the MAB will be the only facility in the United States where startups will be able to test their biomanufacturing methods and bioproducts at every stage of development and access full-service support from business and marketing to science support.