Higher Education

The University of Alberta is constructing the $12 million Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases in its Environmental Engineering Buildings in Edmonton. The first phase of the project, which opened in December of 2007, consists of two renovated laboratories. Phase two is comprised of four additional laboratories housing researchers from the faculties of Science, Medicine & Dentistry, and Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences.

Texas A&M University broke ground in April of 2008 on the $47.8 million Texas Institute of Preclinical Studies (TIPS) in the A&M Research Park in Bryan. The 112,000-sf biomedical and animal research facility will support development and commercialization of therapies for diseases including cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

The University of California, Los Angeles is building the 175,000-gsf Life Sciences Replacement Building (LSRB). The project began in June of 2007 and is slated for completion in spring of 2010. Housing the departments of physiological science, ecology and evolutionary biology, and molecular, cellular and developmental biology, the $155 million research laboratory is comprised of two seismically separated five-story wings with a shared basement.

The University of Texas at Austin is constructing a 6,000-sf vivarium connecting to the Neural and Molecular Biology Building. The $15 million facility is slated for completion in 2008. The University is also developing the $125 million, 256,000-sf Experimental Science Building housing laboratory, classroom, and office space to support research in computational biology, environmental sciences, pharmacy, and molecular and cellular biology. Completion is expected by 2010.

Ithaca College completed the 38,000-sf College School of Business in March of 2008. The facility was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and built by Gilbane. The project is aiming for a LEED Platinum rating and will include a Center for Sustainable Management to incorporate green business principles into Ithaca’s MBA program. The School of Business features a green roof, a storm water collection system and is landscaped with an indigenous plant selection that requires no irrigation.

The Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute will officially open its new $32 million Alzheimer’s research facility on West Virginia University's Morgantown health sciences campus on September 19, 2008. Housing 20 researchers, the 78,000-sf facility includes 20,000-sf of lab and office space, open labs with ten feet of bench space per researcher, microscopy and electrophysiology labs, a darkroom, and a commons area. The three-story facility will be able to accommodate up to 100 researchers.

East Carolina University rededicated the Carol Belk Building in Greenville, N.C., on March 28. Designed by MHAworks, the $9 million renovation project transformed the existing facility to create a home of the College of Health and Human Performance. Designed to promote interaction, the Belk Building houses research laboratories up to BSL-3, teaching labs with low flow hoods and customized storage systems, three auditoriums, offices, work rooms, and conference rooms. The facility features extensive daylighting and an exterior low-e glazing.

Drexel University is initiating $400 million in capital projects on its University City campus in Philadelphia. Comprised of 11 projects slated for completion by 2013, the campus master plan was designed by Sasaki Associates. Facilities include the Integrated Sciences Building, featuring a 40-foot biofilter wall using living plants as an air filter for dust particles, and a $42 million expansion of the recreation center. Additionally, ground will be broken for a new dormitory in April of 2008 with occupancy expected in fall of 2009.

Newcastle University is planning £200 million in construction over the next three years in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. Construction will begin in April of 2008 on a £35 million, five-story Student and Administrative Services building. Other projects include a £34 million international student housing and academic building, a £29.8 million facility to house the Institute of Health and Society and a Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, a £4.8 million dormitory, and new home for the International Centre for Music Studies and the Great North Museum project.

The University of California, San Diego has selected  Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects to design a new biomedical research facility on the Health Sciences campus in La Jolla. The project will include approximately 150,000-sf of wet-bench laboratories, laboratory support, laboratory core facilities, and office/conference space to accommodate biomedical research programs at UCSD’s School of Medicine, including a new multi-department program in genomic medicine and expanded department of neurosciences.

D'Youville College will initiate construction in May of 2008 on a $20 million academic center on its West Side campus in Buffalo, N.Y. Designed by Cannon Design, the 93,000-sf, six-story facility will house classrooms, laboratories, faculty and administrative offices, conference rooms, and space for a pharmacy program. The project manager is Savarino Cos. of Buffalo.

The University of Kansas Medical Center has received a $3 million grant from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce to create a life sciences incubator. The $6.25 million project includes renovation of the on-campus Breidenthal building to create a 40,000-sf facility housing laboratories, offices, commons, telecommunications, and a 6,000-sf wet lab. The incubator will support 10 companies.

Yale School of Medicine completed the fit-out of a 70,000-sf translational research facility at its New Haven, Conn., campus in March of 2008. The project contractor was Tucker Mechanical, a subsidiary of EMCOR Group. Tucker Mechanical provided all HVAC and plumbing for the 70,000 square-foot building which was originally designed as an office. Comprised of five floors and a penthouse, the building was constructed to attain LEED certification.

The University of California, Riverside’s 82,000-sf Genomics Building reached 50 percent completion in March of 2008. The five-level facility broke ground in October of 2006 and will house research laboratories and academic space for the Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, which includes the Center for Plant Cell Biology, the Biotechnology Impacts Center and the Center for Disease-Vector Research. The building will house over 200 researchers and staff from the departments of botany and plant sciences, plant pathology, entomology, and neurosciences.

Santa Clara University dedicated the new 194,000-sf Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center, and Orradre Library in Santa Clara, Calif., on March 14, 2008. The building merges liberal arts education with modern information technologies to form what is expected to become the intellectual heart of the Mission campus. Designed to foster collaborative learning, the new four-level building occupies the site of SCU’s former Orradre Library and has nearly twice the square footage.