Research and Development

Monsanto broke ground in November of 2013 on a 400,000-sf expansion of its 210-acre campus in Chesterfield, Mo. The project includes the construction of a $140 million technology and research building, a $70 million conference center, and a $30 million parking garage topped by a $60 million greenhouse. Accommodating 675 investigators and staff, the expansion will provide 250 labs and plant growth chambers as well as 36 greenhouses for collaborative research in breeding, biotechnology, and agronomics.

North Central College is planning to build a $60 million science center in Naperville, Ill. Designed by Chicago-based Holabird & Root, the 125,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will provide classrooms, teaching laboratories, collaborative research space, and interaction areas for programs in biology, chemistry, and physics. The center will also support instruction in math, computer science, psychology, and business. The project manager is U.S. Equities Realty. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2017.

IBM opened a 21,000-sf commercial technology R&D facility in Nairobi in November of 2013. The lab will house researchers leveraging powerful analytical tools, such as cognitive computing systems, to develop solutions to Africa's unique challenges for energy, healthcare, agriculture, water, transportation, and public safety. The facility is located at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and features a dynamic cloud-enabled computing hub.

St. Louis College of Pharmacy will begin construction in spring of 2014 on a $50 million teaching and research building. The six-story, 213,000-sf facility will house classrooms, study areas, a library, an auditorium, and 30,000 sf of research space. The project team includes architect Cannon Design and construction manager Paric Corp. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2015. 

Clemson University opened the 5,000-sf Clemson Nanomaterials Center in October of 2013. Supporting interdisciplinary nanotechnology research in areas such as superconducting materials and energy generation and storage technologies, the lab provides advanced spectroscopy and microscopy equipment, an electric arc system, and chemical vapor deposition systems.

Huntsman Cancer Institute is planning to build the $100 million Primary Children’s and Families’ Research Center on the campus of its Salt Lake City headquarters. Accommodating 300 investigators, the 220,000-sf facility will provide advanced facilities for the study of genetic cancers. Construction is expected to begin in spring of 2014.

Bayer HealthCare opened its new headquarters in Hanover Township, N.J., in October of 2013. The two-building, 700,000-sf office project consolidates operations from four separate locations and will accommodate 2,400 employees. The headquarters was constructed by transforming two obsolete structures into a spacious and sustainable facility featuring a five-story glass atrium.

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center VANTAGE Laboratory consolidates physically separate research facilities into one shared space in order to optimize collaboration and acceleration of new biological and clinical discoveries. The renovation of 13,300 gsf of underutilized and aged space in the original 1925 Medical Center building in the heart of the medical campus co-locates six existing cores: Genome Technology, BioVU (Vanderbilt’s DNA repository), DNA Resources, DNA Sequencing, Vanderbilt Microarray Shared Resource, and Flow Cytometry.

Dartmouth College is building the $116.5 million Williamson Translational Research Building in Lebanon, N.H. Located on the campus of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the six-story, 165,000-sf facility will provide collaborative research space for the Geisel School of Medicine. The project will house advanced research laboratories, the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, and a pathology lab. The Dartmouth SYNERGY program will also be headquartered in the building.

The University of Nottingham began construction in October of 2013 on the $32 million Centre for Sustainable Chemistry in the United Kingdom. Designed by Fairhursts Design Group and created in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, the 48,000-sf carbon-neutral building will provide research labs, a teaching lab, and instrumentation suites. The facility will be located in the University's Innovation Park and will accommodate 100 investigators.

Vassar College is constructing the $125 million Integrated Science Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The project includes a new 80,000-sf teaching and research building designed by Ennead Architects that will bridge a ravine. Three existing facilities will also be renovated. Supporting programs in earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics, the Integrated Science Center will feature the collaborative Earth and Environment Lab housing two faculty research labs, a shared teaching lab, a cleanroom, a coldroom, and a student-faculty joint use lab.

Samsung Research America broke ground in October of 2013 on its new research and development campus in Mountain View, Calif. The 385,000-sf project includes two six-story office buildings and will be constructed to attain a minimum of LEED Gold sustainable design certification. Occupancy is expected in December of 2014. Samsung Research America is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

The new Consolidated Forensic Laboratory (CFL) in the heart of Washington, D.C., not only merges the physical environs of three city public safety agencies—public health, the chief medical examiner, and the forensics labs—but also creates a new dynamic for interagency cooperation. Co-location in the 351,000-sf, six-story, state-of-the-art facility allows the city to upgrade all three agencies cost effectively while improving the science, efficiency, and integrity of the work performed there. The efficiency extends to the building systems, with the CFL achieving LEED Platinum.

The $270 million Albert Sherman Center expands and unifies the UMass Medical School’s Worcester campus, doubling its research capacity and supporting the school’s new learner-centered curriculum. The 512,000-sf state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research and education facility fosters interaction and collaboration among scientists and promotes innovation and synergies across disciplines, bringing together researchers from one research building and several smaller satellite buildings and leased spaces.

Cambridge University Hospital is planning to build The Forum on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the United Kingdom. Designed by NBBJ, the $202 million development will include a post-graduate medical school, a 100-bed private hospital, a 198-room hotel, and a 55-seat conference center. The project will be built using general contractor Laing O'Rourke's ‘Design for Manufacture and Assembly’ system of modular construction.