Project for Public Spaces (PPS) has collaborated with the U.S. General Services Administration to write and design a new book, Achieving Great Federal Public Spaces: A Property Manager’s Guide. This book is a valuable tool for federal and non-federal public building property managers seeking to evaluate and improve their lobbies, atriums, plazas, courtyards, and other public spaces.
The University of Chicago has appointed Laurence Hill as Associate Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories. The position was created due to a new University contract with Fermilab and will include responsibility for site office operations, University contract management, and board staffing for Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
The World Health Organization's 2007 report states that infectious diseases are emerging more rapidly and spreading more quickly due to increased human mobility and travel. As the increasing risk of disease outbreaks and epidemics escalates, these health emergencies can become threats to global public health security. The World Health Report 2007 examines contemporary infectious disease trends and examines the revised International Health Regulations (2005), which came into force in 2007, as a tool for health risk identification and management.
The City of Walnut Creek, Calif., has selected Gilbane Building Company to serve as CM Agent for the city's new $43.5 million library and parking garage. This 42,000 sf, two-story building is located in roughly the same location as the current downtown library built in 1961. Due to the current library being outdated and undersized, this project is intended to provide the needed space for books and materials, as well as the construction of an underground parking lot with approximately 150 spaces for public parking.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published “Advancing the Nation’s Health: A Guide for Public Health Research Needs, 2006-2015.” Identifying research needs that need to be addressed during the next ten years, the guide is available at http://www.cdc.gov/OD/science/PHResearch/cdcra/.
The State of Maryland has chosen Gilbane Building Company to provide CM at Risk services for the new $37 million Forensic Medical Center. The facility will serve as the headquarters for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) of Maryland. The facility will be six stories totaling 120,000 sf with an area that will meet BSL-3 containment requirements. The architect for the facility is Gaudreau, Inc., with Gilbane’s Mid-Atlantic regional office overseeing the work.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture dedicated its high containment large animal facility in Ames, Iowa in July of 2007. As the second component of a multi-phase, $460 million project, the state-of-the-art animal health center will accommodate research on a variety of endemic, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases. Housing BSL-3 laboratories, the facility was constructed in three and a half years and cost approximately $85 million. The new building contains more than 155,000 sf and will house cattle, bison, elk, deer, reindeer, sheep and hogs.
The United Nations has selected Skanska USA Building to serve as the construction manager for the UN’s Capital Master Plan (CMP) renovation and upgrading of the international agency’s headquarters in New York City. Skanska expects to perform the project on a phased basis through 2014, with a total anticipated value of the work being approximately $1 billion. Skanska will negotiate, and submit to the UN for approval, separate Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) contracts for each phase of the project.
At a Congressional hearing in late July of 2007, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security established a research committee to explore ways of adapting the regulations for the storage of chemicals and hazardous materials for college campuses. As the cost and effort of complying with federal regulations for chemical storage can be extensive, the working group will review and revise the regulations in order to create a standard appropriate for university laboratories and facilities.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to construct the National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. The DOE has granted the project Critical Decision 1 status, representing a significant step toward construction of the facility. Producing x-ray light 10,000 times brighter than the existing NSLS, the project will facilitate discoveries in advanced materials, energy technologies, nanoscience, and pharmaceutical development. The project budget is estimated at $750 to $925 million.
NASA broke ground on July 16, 2007 on the Exploration Sciences Building in Greenbelt, Md. Located at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the three-story environmentally friendly office and laboratory building was designed by EwingCole, an architecture and engineering firm with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. M+W Zander provided laboratory planning consultation. Providing state of the art labs and technologies, the facility will accommodate research in space and earth science.
Construction has begun on the Nassau County Public Safety Center (NCPSC) located in a former warehouse complex in Westbury, N.Y. Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) designed the new facility on behalf of Nassau County. URS Corporation is the construction manager for the project. The program manager is Carter Burgess.
The renovation and expansion of the Virginia Capitol reached completion in early summer of 2007. Gilbane Building Company, in association with The Christman Company, provided construction management services for the project, which included 91,000 sf of historic renovation and 10,000 sf of addition. The Hillier Group provided architectural services. The project includes an underground visitor center and a utility loop that supports the renovation of the Capitol building and the future needs within Capitol Square.
Brookhaven National Laboratory dedicated the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) in Upton, N.Y., on May 21, 2007. HDR Architecture provided full A/E services for this new facility that will provide researchers state-of-the-art capabilities to explore and develop nanoscale materials aimed at helping the U.S. achieve energy independence. The 94,500-sf facility is the last of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers built by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at its national laboratories.
The Canadian federal government has announced the recipients of its 2007 research budget allocations. Science and technology growth will be supported by $1.3 billion in funding, including:
