Government

The Department of Homeland Security broke ground on the $128-million National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) in Frederick, Md., on June 26, 2006.

The new $144-million San Francisco Federal Building is slated for completion in November of 2006. Construction began on the 605,000-sf project in June 2002; the facility is now 75 percent complete. Featuring “green” building systems, the 18-story, 240-foot glass tower will be only 65 feet wide, allowing the entrance of natural light from both sides. An unconventional HVAC system, including opening windows, will replace standard air conditioning.

The new $97-miillion National Security Sciences building has opened at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  The design-build project contains 680 offices, a 600-person lecture hall, and administrative and staff facilities. Work in the new facility will focus on solutions to national security issues.

Northrop Grumman Corp. broke ground on the 185,000-sf Commonwealth Enterprise Solutions Center in Chesterfield County, Va., in May of 2006. Housing 185,000 sf of offices, the building is sited on 28 acres. It will serve as Virginia's primary data center and will house the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, as well as containing a technology lab, a security operations center, a video broadcast studio, a training room, and a fitness center. Completion is slated for fall of 2007.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) opened the $970-million National Security Sciences building in May of 2006.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) dedicated its new  $182.6-million C.W. Bill Young Center for Biodefense and Emergine Infectious Diseases building in April 2006. Research in the 84,000-nsf building will focus on infectious diseases of global importance when it opens for occupancy later this year. Construction of the facility began in November 2003 and was completed in December 2005. It accommodates BSL-2 and BSL-3 labs and animal care areas, plus offices and conference rooms and a 1,250-car garage.

The new 930,000-sf United States Postal Service (USPS) Processing and Distribution Center in southwest Philadelphia has been completed. The architectural firm Kling  provided architectural, engineering, and interior services that included programming, space planning, interior architectural detailing, telecommunications engineering, and lighting design. The facility, which is located on a 50-acre industrial site, will process all types of mail carried and delivered by the USPS--up to 8 million pieces of mail each night.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) has selected Flad & Associates of Madison, Wis., to design the new Physical Sciences Facility at the Lab's Richland, Wash., campus. The $224-million, 335,000-sf building will house 455 staff and 175,000 sf of lab space for subsurface science, materials science and technology, chemistry, shielded operations, radiation detection, ultra-trace analysis, and certification. The facility design will be LEED certifiable. Construction is expected to begin in early 2008.

A new federally funded $25-million research laboratory will be located on the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture campus in Lexington, Ky. Design of the new facility has been awarded to the Washington, D.C., office of RTKL Associates Inc. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service will manage the building, which will include a 64,000-sf lab and a 11,000-sf greenhouse. The greenhouse is scheduled to begin construction in early 2007.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is designing a new agricultural research facility in Kerrville, Texas to replace its existing livestock insect laboratory. The new $35-million facility will accommodate research on the control and eradication of cattle ticks and Lyme disease-causing pathogens. The larger site for the new facility will include pens and housing for cattle and deer. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory dedicated the $85 million Molecular Foundry in Berkeley, Calif. on March 24, 2006. Construction began on the six-story, 95,000-sf nanotechnology center in December of 2003. Designed by the architectural firm SmithGroup, the facility is one of five U.S. Department of Energy nanotechnology research centers.

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.

The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce will initiate construction of its new $55-million Civic Center in Santa Fe's historic district in early 2006. The 45,000-sf Sweeney Center currently located on the site will be demolished to allow construction of the new 72,000-sf facility. Designed by Santa Fe-based Spears Architects and Denver-based Fentress Bradburn Architects, the facility will include a two-story underground parking garage when it reaches completion in fall of 2007.

A new 100,000-sf police and fire training center will begin construction in Boca Raton, Fla., in January 2006. To be built by general contractor Kaufman Lynn, the $8-million project includes the complete renovation of a building formerly occupied by Sony. The training center will include an auditorium, gymnasium, classrooms, and administrative offices. Designed by architect PGAL of Boca Raton, the facility is slated for completion in December 2006.

The National Park Service has initiated construction on the Twin Creeks Science and Education Center, a research facility that will support the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI), an initiative to document all life forms in the 500,000-acre park.