Biocontainment

The University of California, Davis is constructing two veterinary medical facilities, both slated for completion by year-end 2006. Designed by SRG Partnership of Portland, Ore., the $77-million Veterinary Medical Building 3A features office, teaching, and clinical laboratory space, a research tower, overhead cranes for large animal transport, and a necropsy room with a digester. The 164,000-sf facility is being built to meet strict biosafety sterilization code requirements and vibration criteria.

Construction of the National Interagency Biodefense Campus (NIBC) is underway at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. A collaboration of the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, the 200-acre site will be developed over the next six years. Construction of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Integrated Research Facility began in summer of 2005 and is slated for completion in December 2007.

Indonesia's Ministry of Health is planning to construct a BSL-3 laboratory for the testing of avian flu. The facility will match the Hong Kong-based WHO laboratory where Indonesia currently sends blood samples for testing.  

Saint Louis University will construct a $67-million research building for the School of Medicine on its midtown Saint Louis campus. The 206,000-sf facility will have a ten-story tower on the north end and will be connected at the south end to the School of Medicine by a covered walkway. The first floor will be comprised of clinical core lab space, with flexible, modular research laboratories and offices on floors two through eight.

Virginia Tech began construction in September 2005 on a 72,000-sf life sciences research building on its Blacksburg, Va., campus. The three-story building will house animal care facilities and life science laboratories including microbiology labs, BSL-3 facilities, and a basement floor small animal vivarium. Meeting NIH and CDC research standards, the building will accommodate over 200 faculty, students, and staff. The total project cost is approximately $35 million. Completion is slated for summer of 2007.

The University of Texas at San Antonio opened the 10.6-million Margaret Batts Tobin Laboratory Building in November of 2005. Designed by FKP Architects, the 22,000-sf BSL-3 facility will support infectious disease research with six biology research labs, a computer media center, and a conference room. The contractor for the project was Vaughn Construction.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth broke ground on a new 22,000-sf research and laboratory facility in fall of 2005. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the two-story, $9-million project will be built as an extension to the Violette Building. The first floor has been designed with flexible, modular laboratories to accommodate chemistry, biology, psychology, engineering, and a vivarium. The second floor will house containment laboratories for research.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed construction of the new $165-million Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory. Located on the CDC's Edward R. Roybal campus in Atlanta, the 12-story building plus attached five-story structure includes BSL-4, BSL-3, and BSL-2 facilities, offices, molecular biology suites, analytical equipment laboratories, a central glass washing facility, and a central utility plant. Housing over 450 researchers, the 400,000-sf laboratory is slated to open in fall 2005. Construction began in October 2001.

The University of Tennessee is developing the UT-Baptist Research Park in Memphis, Tenn. The 10-acre campus will consist of 1.2 million sf of bioscience laboratory, education, research, and incubator space.  Baptist Memorial Health Care donated its property in the Memphis Medical District to create the campus. A 924,000-sf building will be imploded to enable new construction to begin in the second quarter of 2006. The project will be built in six phases over ten years.

The University of Virginia will begin construction in fall 2005 on the $71-million Carter-Harrison Medical Research Building (MRB) at its main Charlottesville campus. Housing approximately 300 scientists and laboratory staff grouped in 60 research teams, the 189,000-gsf facility was designed by HDR Engineering of Alexandria, Va.

The National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded the University of Louisville a $22 million federal grant to construct a biodefense research laboratory on its Shelby campus. One of thirteen BSL-3 Regional Biosafety Laboratories in the nation funded by NIAID since 2003, the 45,000-sf facility will be supported by $12.6 million in University funding. The building will house the University's Center for Predictive Medicine.

The National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded George Mason University (GMU) a $25-million grant to construct a new BSL-3 biocontainment laboratory in Fairfax, Va. The facility will be part of GMU's $45-million National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, an 83,000-sf facility that will accommodate research on diseases considered to be potential bioterror threats.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth broke ground in September 2005 on a $9-million, 20,000-sf research center dedicated to the study of botulism, a potential bioterrorism threat. 

The University of Hawaii has been awarded a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to construct a new biodefense laboratory in Pearl City. The BSL-3 facility will be sited near the existing state Department of Health laboratory and may receive additional funding from a proposed $12 million state grant. Construction of the new biocontainment laboratory is slated to begin in fall 2006.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has completed construction of a 12-story biodefense research facility at its main campus in Atlanta. Slated to open in November 2005, the approximately 400,000-sf project includes a global communications center and an emergency operations center and will triple available BSL-4 laboratory space. Additionally, laboratories in the facility can be adjusted to different safety levels depending on the containment level needed.