Higher Education

Okanagan College opened the $28 million Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation in December of 2011. Located in Penticton, British Columbia, the zero-energy, zero-waste facility features the largest photovoltaic solar array on a non-utility building in Canada. Supporting education, research, and training in sustainable design, the building includes interactive instrumentation for the monitoring of building systems. The facility also houses the Okanagan Research and Innovation Centre. 

Rush University Medical Center opened a $654 million hospital in Chicago in December of 2011. Designed by Perkins+Will, the 14-story, 806,000-sf tower houses the Mary Jo and John Boler Center for Advanced Imaging, an emergency department with 60 treatment bays, 42 technology-rich procedure rooms, and the McCormick Foundation Center for Advanced Emergency Response. Construction began on the 304-bed facility in fall of 2008. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the project.

Glasgow College is planning $315 million in new facilities in downtown Glasgow in the United Kingdom. The project comprises 650,000 sf of new buildings to create the City Centre Campus, as well as extensive redevelopment and expansion of the Riverside Campus. Construction is expected to begin in summer of 2013 and reach completion by 2016. 

Colorado State University will begin construction in June of 2012 on a $19.5 million renovation of the Animal Sciences Building in Fort Collins. Plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and telecommunications systems will be replaced in the 41,558-sf building, which will house renovated teaching labs and classrooms.

The University of Arizona will begin building a $135 million cancer center in summer of 2012. Part of UA's Phoenix Biomedical Campus, the facility will be a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. The six-story, 250,000-sf clinical and translational research building will be operated in partnership with St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. Completion is expected in mid-2014. 

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee initiated a $53 million renovation and expansion in December of 2011 to create a new facility for the School of Freshwater Sciences. Construction will begin by May of 2012 and reach completion by November of 2013. The existing Great Lakes WATER Institute will be remodeled and expanded to house ecological research laboratories and offices. 

Marshall University is planning a $100 million expansion of its campus in Huntington, W.V. The project includes a technology-rich classroom building, an applied engineering complex, a biotechnology incubator, a fine arts incubator, a parking structure, and an athletics complex including a sports medicine translational research facility. Construction will begin in January of 2012.

Princeton University opened the High Performance Computing Center on its Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro in November of 2011. The two-story, 46,765-sf building provides a computing area, a data center, mechanical and electrical support space, and offices. The facility also houses the Terrascale Infrastructure for Groundbreaking Research in Engineering and Science (TIGRESS) Center. The project team included architect Gensler of San Francisco, engineer AKF Group of Boston, and project manager CS Technology.

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology opened the Energy Systems and Nuclear Science Research Centre (ERC) in November of 2011 in Oshawa. The 100,000-sf building provides space for instruction, training, and research in nuclear engineering and sustainable energy development. The $45.4 million facility houses administrative and faculty offices, research and teaching labs, a 72-seat lecture hall, a four-story atrium, and study space. Construction began on the project in November of 2009 and reached completion in August of 2011.

Skanska and joint venture partner MAPP Construction have been awarded a $522 million contract to build phase one of the new University Medical Center in New Orleans for the State of Louisiana. Designed by NBBJ, the $1.2 billion project includes a 560,000-sf, 424-bed teaching hospital and a 746,982-sf diagnosis and treatment center. Ground was broken on the project in April of 2011 and occupancy is expected in February of 2015.

Ryerson University has selected EllisDon to build the $112 million Student Learning Centre in Toronto. Construction will begin on the eight-story, 155,463-sf building in early 2012. Designed by Snøhetta Architects and Zeidler Partnership Architects, the seven-story transparent glass structure will provide open environments for group learning. Connecting to Ryerson’s adjacent library, the building will include ground-level retail and 2,000 study spaces. Completion is expected in winter of 2014. 

The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences is building a new campus in Austin, Texas. Sited on 27.7 acres, the project includes two buildings providing 80,000 sf of classroom and laboratory space. The campus will also include a library, faculty and administrative offices, and student lounges. The auditorium-style classrooms are designed to promote collaboration and interaction with a variety of learning technologies. The general contractor is Hardin Construction Company. Completion is expected in June of 2012. 

Virginia Tech opened the $105 million Infectious Disease Research Facility at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg in November of 2011. Construction began on the 16,000-sf BSL-2  facility in August of 2010. Also under construction is the $14.1 million, 33,000-sf Veterinary Medicine Instructional Addition. Work began on the building in July of 2011 and occupancy is expected in August of 2012. The facility will house faculty offices, teaching labs, and flexible instructional space.

Mid-South Community College's Renewable Energy Center will open in January of 2012 in Memphis, Ark. The 35,000-sf facility will support education and training for the sustainable energy industry. The $9 million building will house five classrooms, a 200-seat lecture hall, a chemistry lab, and a biofuel research and production facility.

Wilfrid Laurier University has broken ground on the $103 million Global Innovation Exchange in Waterloo, Ontario. Housing the School of Business and Economics and the Department of Math, the 215,000-sf facility will feature a 1,000-seat auditorium and seven lecture halls. Designed to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty offices will be dispersed throughout the building instead of clustered by department. Classrooms will also be shared by all three programs. Occupancy is expected in 2014.