The University of Massachusetts, Lowell is planning to construct the $100 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC). Designed by CUH2A, the 100,000-sf project will house academic instruction, bio- and nano-manufacturing space, R&D laboratories, and a business incubator. LEED Silver certification for sustainable design will be sought for the facility.
DNAVision, an applied genetics and genomics services company, completed an expansion of its campus in Charleroi-Gosselies, Belgium, in January of 2009. Doubling laboratory and office space, the project added five new lab areas for cell culture and nucleic acid extraction. Supporting the company’s RNA- and DNA-based analytical techniques, the expansion will enable DNAVision to provide GMP certified assays. Additionally, subsidiary DNAVision AgriFood will relocate to a new facility in early 2009.
Virginia Tech is building the $24 million Institute for Critical Technologies & Applied Science (ICTAS) Phase II in Blacksburg, Va. The three-story, 43,000-gsf facility will house specialized labs for applied and fundamental research in bioengineering, biomaterials,and bio-nanotechnology. The project will accommodate the development of communications and sensor technologies and includes offices and support spaces. Virginia Tech is also constructing the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) Facility Addition.
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is building the $60 million Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences in Kingston. The 140,000-sf facility broke ground in March 2007 and is slated for completion in 2009. The architect for the facility is Payette Associates of Boston with Providence-based Gilbane Building Co. as construction manager. The project includes classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, a business incubator, a 300-seat auditorium, and support areas for DNA sequencing.
Colorado State University began building the $53 million Research Innovation Center on its Foothills campus in Fort Collins in December of 2008. Slated for completion in April of 2010, the three-story, 72,000-sf center will be sited in the Judson Harper Research Complex and will house offices, laboratories, and a biotechnology business incubator.
Biogen Idec will relocate its headquarters to a 350,000-sf facility in Weston, Ma., in 2010. Construction of the Weston facility is being managed by Boston Properties. Biogen Idec’s previous 375,000-sf headquarters in Cambridge will be converted into laboratory space.
DuPont opened the DuPont Knowledge Center in Hyderabad, India, in November of 2008. The $30 million facility houses laboratories for biotechnology, materials research, engineering design, and applications development. The project broke ground in summer of 2007 and can accommodate up to 600 scientists and staff. Housing basic research, bioinformatics, product development, and patent services, the Knowledge Center will support DuPont’s industrial and plant biotechnology operations in the Asia Pacific region.
Siemens Healthcare completed an 115,000-sf expansion of its Diagnostic Reagent Facility in East Walpole, Mass., in November of 2008. Comprised of manufacturing and warehouse facilities, the project was finished by Columbia Construction three months ahead of schedule. The sustainably-designed expansion features an energy-efficient roof, light sensors, high-efficiency equipment motors, and a water recharge system.
The University of Utah will break ground in summer of 2009 on the $130 million James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building in Salt Lake City. The 193,000-sf project is part of the $500 million Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR) and will anchor the University’s new Interdisciplinary Quadrangle. Housing advanced imaging and nanotechnology laboratories, the facility will include a 20,000-sf nanofabrication suite. The multidisciplinary building will support biomedical and neuroscience research.
Imperial College London opened its £8.4 million bioengineering education and research facility in London in October of 2008. Located on the South Kensington campus, the project will provide research and teaching laboratories, lecture halls, offices, and conference rooms for the Department of Bioengineering.
The North Carolina Research Campus celebrated the opening of three buildings on its 350-acre life sciences campus in Kannapolis in October of 2008. The $1.5 billion project was designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architecture and developed by Castle & Cooke. The campus includes the 311,000-sf Murdock Core Lab which features a basement vivarium housing 48,000 rodents.
Genzyme Corp. opened the $125 million Science Center in Framingham, Mass., on September 22, 2008. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the facility has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification. The six-story, 180,000-sf building houses laboratories and offices united by a central atrium. The facility will house 350 employees engaged in cardiovascular, cancer, immunology, and neurology research.
RainDance Technologies dedicated its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Lexington, Mass., on September 26, 2008. The 28,000-sf facility will house administrative offices and commercial manufacturing operations. RainDance Technologies is a provider of droplet-based microfluidic solutions for human health and disease research.
DuPont opened the Biotech Research Center in September of 2008 in Hyderabad, India. Located at the DuPont Knowledge Center, the facility will support research in crop genetics and industrial biotechnology for DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition and DuPont Applied BioSciences. Additional facilities at the DuPont Knowledge Center will open in successive months to house a total of 600 scientists and engineers when the complex is dedicated by year-end 2008.
The University of Illinois dedicated the newly renovated and expanded Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) in Urbana-Champaign on September 4, 2008. The $18 million project created additional laboratory, classroom, research, and meeting facilities. The expansion will support research for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics. The MNTL houses research laboratories for micro and nanoelectronics, nanophotonics and optoelectronics, nanomedicine and bionanotechnology, MEMS/NEMS, and integrated systems research.
