Government

The University of Nevada, Reno is constructing a $75 million facility to expand capacity for the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (a branch of the School of Public Health). Designed by Van Woert Bigotti, the 55,000-sf building will offer flexible laboratories, dedicated research and screening environments, and specialized containment areas including a BSL-3 lab. A new toxicology program will focus on substance abuse issues. Sophisticated conference rooms will be accompanied by collaboration spaces and staff offices. 

Collecting and analyzing data is par for the course in facilities planning and operations. But how is that data used, for how long, and how often is it updated? Poorly curated data can be barely more useful than no data at all. But many institutions don’t know where to start or how to make the best use of data they already have. Mining and strategically analyzing information can provide data-driven insights into space needs to help increase utilization, create space planning programs, and understand carbon footprints. 

The Arkansas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is constructing a $200 million replacement facility for the state crime laboratory in North Little Rock. Driving scientific innovation and expanding capacity for the justice system, the 190,000-sf building will support advanced forensic disciplines including DNA analysis, toxicology, digital forensics, firearms examination, and other critical services.

Dallas County Health and Human Services opened its new Public Health Laboratory in March of 2026. Strategically sited in the Southwestern Medical District, the $52 million facility offers state-of-the-art environments for the detection and mitigation of infectious agents and toxins. The 67,000-sf building centralizes lab services previously dispersed in several locations while significantly increasing capacity for testing, disease surveillance, and emergency response.

Macon-Bibb County Government will begin construction in summer of 2026 on the new Macon Arena in Georgia. Designed by PBK Architects, this vibrant destination will further elevate the region’s growing lineup of elite venues and set a new benchmark for large-scale civic development in the Southeast. The facility will host a range of exciting sporting events including basketball, minor league hockey, and high school tournaments, as well as concerts, conferences, trade shows, and more.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that it will spend $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2026 to modernize, repair, and improve health care facilities as part of the Veterans Health Administration’s Non-Recurring Maintenance (NRM) program. Supporting one-time infrastructure projects that are not part of routine, recurring activities, the NRM enables significant maintenance, replacements, or upgrades that are needed to ensure operational capability and advance the delivery of safe and effective patient care.

The New York State Department of Health has begun construction on the new Wadsworth Center, a $1.7 billion public health laboratory that will transform the state's ability to detect, prevent, and respond to emerging threats. Designed by HOK, the state-of-the-art facility will consolidate five legacy sites across the Greater Albany area into a single, modern campus. The five-story, 663,000-gsf project is strategically located on the W.

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has rejected the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding for indirect costs. In January of 2026, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously that prior attempts to cap reimbursement rates for overhead expenses at 15 percent of any given grant for universities and institutions engaged in medical and scientific research were unlawful.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is renovating and expanding the Reedy Creek Laboratory campus in Raleigh. The $65 million initiative will modernize critical facilities and optimize workflows to support the wide range of services and tests that protect the health, safety, and welfare of state residents. Designed by HH Architecture, the updated complex will transform essential community infrastructure and provide future capacity for evolving program needs. 

Ancora L&G opened a $165 million life sciences center in October of 2025 in Providence, Rhode Island. Located in the city’s I-95 innovation district, the 212,000-sf building accommodates 80,000 sf of world-class research space owned by and dedicated to the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Columbia University’s acting president, Claire Shipman, has announced plans to visit Washington, D.C., to discuss possible models for changes to indirect cost recovery rates. In February of 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that allocations for costs that maintain the infrastructure and administrative support for federally funded research would be capped at 15 percent, whereas previous policies allowed higher education institutions to negotiate agreements individually. 

Savannah River National Laboratory opened the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) in August of 2025 on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken. Designed by STOA Architects and Page (now part of Stantec), the $66 million facility will enable the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management to engage in collaborative discovery with academic institutions, industry partners, and government agencies at the city, state, and federal level. 

The University of Virginia is constructing the $100 million Karsh Institute of Democracy in Charlottesville to foster the exploration and enhancement of democratic culture, laws, and institutions. Designed by Höweler+Yoon Architecture and Hanbury, this vibrant ecosystem of spaces will bring faculty, students, staff, and public figures together to accelerate the translation of research and scholarship into actionable solutions.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will begin construction in late 2025 on the first phase of Exploration Park in Houston. Developed by the American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation (ACMI) and Griffin Partners, the dynamic ecosystem will provide up to 22 facilities with leasable environments for commercial space innovation. Build-to-suit options will range from 50,000 sf to 250,000 sf, with multi-tenant structures offering footprints of 15,000 sf to 100,000 sf.

The Government of Canada is investing in federal science to strengthen the safety of air, rail, marine and pipeline transportation systems that Canadians rely on every day. Located in Ottawa, the Transportation Safety and Technology Science (TSTS) hub will transform how federal researchers and private investigators work together by bringing them under one roof. Architecture49 and B+H Architects designed the 226,000-sf facility, which will serve as a shared space for the National Research Council and the Transportation Safety Board.