Government

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is initiating an $89 million steam plant renovation to create a biomass-fueled plant utilizing wood and wood products. The biomass plant will create an annual savings of $8.7 million on water and energy costs with return on investment expected in 11 years. The project is one of four energy-saving performance contracts announced by the Department of Energy, with similar projects occurring at Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pennsylvania.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will construct a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) tissue laboratory for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Located in the Richard Dean Biomedical Research Building in Piedmont Triad Research Park, the facility will support the creation of tissues and engineered organs for the rehabilitation of soldiers. The facility is created in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a multi-institutional consortium of research centers.

Virginia Tech is planning to construct a $90 million research center in the Ballston area of Arlington. Strategically located near the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the seven-story, 144,000-sf facility is slated for occupancy in late 2010. The center will house 250 faculty, staff, and graduate students engaged in bioinformatics, public health, and medical informatics research, as well as the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science.

NASA is constructing the $40 million, five-story Research and Development Administration Building at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 120,000-sf facility is funded by the state of Louisiana through the University of New Orleans Research & Technical Foundation and the Louisiana Office of Economic Development as part of a long-term partnership agreement with NASA. It will contain administrative offices, a conference center, and collaborative R&D space for partner organizations including the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

Pacific Northwest National Lab broke ground on two research facilities in Richland, Wash., in June of 2008. The 73,000-sf Biological Sciences Facility will be connected to the 75,000-sf Computational Sciences Facility by a two-story atrium. The construction cost for the two buildings, which will house approximately 310 employees, is $75 million. The project team is comprised of KMD Architects of San Francisco and D.E. Harvey Builders of Houston.

Idaho National Laboratory has selected CH Construction to build the new $4 million Common Support Building (CSB) at the Advanced Test Reactor Complex west of Idaho Falls. Accommodating 80 employees, the 16,400-sf sustainably-designed facility will feature advanced HVAC and lighting systems.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia initiated construction in early summer of 2008 on a SR320 million National Health Laboratory in Riyadh. Slated for completion by year-end 2009, the 132,000-sm facility will be comprised of five towers and will support testing for diseases, blood, food, and medicines.

The District of Columbia opened the $8 million DOH Public Health Lab Annex in Washington’s DC Village in early June of 2008. The BSL-3 facility will provide testing and identification capabilities for infectious diseases and potential bioterror threats. The 5,200-sf laboratory was funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will begin testing operations in late summer of 2008.

The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is partnering with the University of Houston to create the Texas-NREL Large Blade Research and Test Facility (LBR&TF) in Ingleside, Texas. The facility will be designed, built, and operated by the University of Houston with operational support including $2 million in equipment from NREL. Completion is slated for 2010. The project will provide complete testing of wind turbine blades up to 210 feet long.

The State of New York has selected Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) in conjunction with Cameron Engineering to design the new $190 million New York State Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security in Bethpage, N.Y.  The center will foster the development, evaluation, and deployment of national and state security solutions through applied science.

The National Institutes of Health will occupy the new completed Biomedical Research Center in Baltimore in August of 2008. The 500,000-sf laboratory building will accommodate biomedical research on conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, aging, diabetes, and addiction. The $278 million facility has been undergoing vibration testing and mitigation since its completion in late 2006.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) dedicated the $22.7 million National Cold Water Marine Aquaculture Center (NCWMAC) in Franklin, Maine, in late May of 2008. Housing laboratory, office, and tank space to support 14 scientists and 45 staff, the 44,000-sf facility will foster the development of technologies for sustainable and profitable seafood production.

Cornell University broke ground on the $80 million New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center in Ithaca in May of 2008. Slated for completion in late summer of 2010, the 126,000-gsf facility will house over 200 researchers, consolidating operations currently dispersed in 12 locations. The three-story building will house BSL-2 and BSL-3 labs, diagnostic labs, wet labs, and a state-of-the-art necropsy facility able to accommodate large animals.

The National Interagency Biodefense Campus (NIBC) has completed construction of a $100 million central utility plant at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The project provides continuous steam, chilled water, electricity, and standby emergency power for NIBC's biocontainment laboratories. The plant is operated by Chevron Energy Solutions who also designed and built the facility.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is constructing the 54,423-sf Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) on 15 acres in Pittsfield Township near Ann Arbor, Mich. The single-story facility, which will double the footprint of the existing Traver Village laboratory, broke ground in fall of 2007 and is slated for completion in late 2008. The GLERL will support research on water levels, invasive species, drinking water, and recreational and commercial opportunities.