Value engineering (VE) can save money on a BSL-3 project without compromising facility operations, lifecycle costs, regulatory compliance, or biocontainment requirements; if managed correctly, VE is an opportunity to improve a project, not just a cost-cutting tactic.
Central Michigan University opened the $95 million Biosciences Building in January of 2017 in Mount Pleasant. Designed by Stantec to promote interaction and collaboration, the four-story, 169,000-sf facility provides teaching labs, research labs, lecture halls, an active learning classroom, an auditorium, and faculty offices. The building also includes a BSL-3 suite, an herbarium, an imaging center, and an aquatic research vivarium. Clark Construction began work on the project in September of 2014.
With many aging animal and biocontainment facilities coming to the end of their useful life, renovations, modernizations, and upgrades are by far the top priorities among facility owners and operators, and greater flexibility and adaptability are the hottest issues in project and program planning. Rodents are still overwhelmingly the primary species in animal research, according to industry leaders, and most containment facilities maintain a combination of containment levels; of facilities housing a single containment level, BSL-2 is by far the most prevalent.
The Jackson Laboratory is building the $21 million Center for Biometric Analysis in Bar Harbor, Maine. Designed by Harriman Associates, the 21,000-sf facility will support the precision analysis of disease markers in research mice through advanced imaging and analytical technologies. PC Construction broke ground on the project in June of 2016 and completion is expected by January of 2018. The construction cost of the facility is $14 million.
Hamad Medical Corporation opened the 97,000-sf Communicable Disease Center (CDC) in Doha in November of 2016. Located at Hamad bin Khalifa Medical City, the facility will support the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases including tuberculosis, HIV, influenza, hepatitis, measles, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The CDC features 65 private inpatient rooms with sustainable negative pressure and one hundred percent fresh air exchange, as well as a BSL-3 lab, an automated pharmacy, an outpatient center, and a travel clinic.
Texas A&M University is planning to begin construction in January of 2017 on the $86 million Global Health Research Complex in College Station. The 102,000-sf biocontainment facility will provide advanced laboratories for the study of infectious agents and diseases in plants, animals, and humans. Supporting collaboration within the A&M System, the project will collocate biomedical, veterinary, engineering, and environmental science research in a single complex to create innovative strategies for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center will construct the National Center for Health Security and Biopreparedness on its Omaha healthcare campus. Occupying the entire ground floor of the planned Global Center for Advanced Interprofessional Learning, the 30,000-sf facility will provide advanced simulation suites and inpatient quarantine areas for the management of infectious diseases such as Ebola. The biocontainment training center is supported by $19.8 million in funding from the U.S.
Research has begun at the £650 million Francis Crick Institute in London. Designed by HOK in partnership with PLP Architecture, the 10-story, 980,000-sf facility can accommodate 1,250 scientists and 250 support staff engaged in interdisciplinary biomedical research. The Crick Institute represents a partnership between University College London, Imperial College London, and King’s College London, working in collaboration with the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, and Cancer Research UK.
University of Chicago Medicine broke ground in September of 2016 on a $43 million emergency department and trauma center. Located in Hyde Park adjacent to the Center for Care and Discovery, the 29,017-gsf facility will feature four trauma resuscitation bays, private patient rooms, a bariatric room with ceiling lifts, and a medical biocontainment unit. Completion is expected in early 2018.
The Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency has completed construction of the Forensic Identification Laboratory in Oahu, Hawaii. Designed by SmithGroupJJR, the three-story, 136,497-sf project will aid in the investigation, recovery, and accounting of Americans lost during the nation’s past conflicts.
Memorial University is planning to build the CAD$30 million Animal Resource Centre in St. Johns. Replacing two existing buildings, the 30,000-sf facility will support medical research in a variety of areas, including cancer, diabetes, mental health, obesity, stroke mechanisms, and osteoporosis. The project will include vivarium space for animal housing and is supported by CAD$14.4 million in federal funding.
James Cook University is planning to build the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) on the Cairns campus in Smithfield, Queensland. Designed by Jackson Architecture and Fisher & Buttrose Architects, the AUD$24.5 million facility will include a Physical Containment Level 2 (PC2) laboratory to accommodate research on virology, viral diseases, and vector control. The project will be constructed by Hutchinson Builders and completion is expected in late 2017.
The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) officially broke ground in August of 2016 on a $75 million mouse production facility in Ellsworth, Maine. The project involves the renovation and expansion of an existing 143,000-sf building to create an advanced 208,000-sf vivarium for the breeding and housing of genetic research mice. The facility will utilize robotic cage management technologies, eliminating the need for employees wearing personal protective equipment to work within containment areas. Window glove boxes will enable researchers to access the specimens.
Health Services Laboratories (HSL) is renovating an existing structure known as the Halo building to create its pathology laboratory headquarters in London. Comprising five subterranean levels and ten stories above grade, the 133,000-sf facility will provide a CL3 biocontainment laboratory, specialized research suites, and the largest automated blood sciences lab in the United Kingdom. The contractor for the £21 million fit-out project is ISG.
The Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (KRIBB) broke ground in June of 2016 on the $16 million Support Center for Nonhuman Primates Resources in Jeongeup, South Korea. Located on a 775,000-sf site, the facility will act as a breeding colony for specific pathogen-free nonhuman primates that can be supplied to laboratories for biomedical and pharmaceutical research studies. Completion is expected in late 2017.
