Research and Development

The University of Tennessee opened the $23 million John D. Tickle Engineering Building in Knoxville in August of 2013. The five-story, 110,000-sf facility houses the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Designed by Grieve Associates Architects, the building features a high bay research area, a two-story water tank and cement pit for erosion testing, and two 10-ton cranes for the movement of structures and workways.

City University of New York has attained LEED Platinum sustainable design certification for Lehman College Science Hall. The $70 million facility was designed by architectural firm Perkins+Will and built by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). Construction was led by Gilbane Building Company and the project team included general contractor Calcedo Construction, B&G Electric, Aspro Plumbing, and BP Mechanical.

The $102 million Central Reference Laboratory (CRL) is being constructed in Kazakhstan to support research on emerging infectious diseases and pathogens. The 87,000-sf biocontainment facility will provide 5,400 sf of BSL-3 space as well as BSL-2 research areas. The project is being created in collaboration with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency and will be affiliated with the Kazakhstan Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Diseases. The CRL is located in Almaty and is expected to open in 2015.

Toyota Motor Corporation broke ground in August of 2013 on a new R&D center in Tianjin, China. The 1.2 million-sf project will include a laboratory building, a design building, and other structures. The facility is expected to become operational in 2015.

The new ANSI Standard Z9.14-201X will govern the testing and performance verification methodologies for ventilation systems for BSL-3 and ABSL-3 facilities. High containment laboratory verification is the systematic review and evaluation of all safety features and processes associated with the laboratory, including engineering controls, personal protective equipment, SOPs, administrative controls, and building and system integrity.

The University of Florida celebrated the opening of the $45 million Clinical and Translational Science Building in Gainesville in August of 2013. The collaborative 120,000-sf project houses the 40,000-sf UF Institute on Aging, the Clinical and Translational Research Institute, conference rooms, training facilities, research laboratories, and clinical space. LEED Platinum sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility.

Texas A&M University is building an 11,000-sf research aviary for the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Located in College Station, the facility will include a biocontainment laboratory, a bird hospital, quarantine suites, two isolation rooms, classrooms, and administrative offices. Completion is expected in May of 2014.

Queensland Children's Hospital is building the $125 million Academic and Research Facility (A&RF) in Brisbane. Created in partnership with the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, and the Translational Research Institute, the ten-story project will provide five floors of wet and dry labs for advanced biomedical research. The remaining levels will house pathology services, retail, and parking. While the facility will house more than 450 researchers, the design allows for expansion.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is planning a $74 million expansion of its St. Louis research facility. Designed by Flad Architects and Christner, the project will add 79,000 sf to the existing 169,250-sf center to provide flexible laboratories for an additional 100 researchers. Construction will begin in 2014 with completion expected in 2015. The project manager is Landmark Contract Management and McCarthy is providing pre-construction services.

The five-story, 237,000-sf Sandler Neurosciences Center creates a new hub for the Mission Bay campus of the University of California, San Francisco, with the consolidation of the Department of Neurology, the Neurodegenerative Disease Research program, the Center for Integrative Neurosciences, and the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases. The 38-year lease, after which UCSF will own the building, represents the first time the University of California System has used a public-private-partnership funding model for a solely programmatic facility.

ZS Genetics opened a 10,000-sf laboratory and office facility in July of 2013 in Wakefield, Mass. The building includes a chemistry lab, a DNA sample preparation lab, electron microscopy suites, and offices. The facility will support the consolidation of employees previously sited in disparate locations as well as accommodating future growth.

The University of British Columbia has received LEED Gold certification from the Canada Green Building Council for the 172,000-sf Biological Sciences Complex renewal project in Vancouver. Designed by Aston Ostry Architects, the renovated facility provides advanced research space for the Departments of Botany and Zoology.

Loyola University Chicago will break ground in August of 2013 on the $137 million Center for Translational Research and Education. Created in partnership with CHE-Trinity, the five-story, 227,000-sf facility will provide open labs and support space for research in epidemiology, public health, bioinformatics, nursing, and health sciences. The center will accommodate 72 principal investigators and will include a 250-seat auditorium. Occupancy is expected in August of 2016.

The University of Minnesota will break ground in fall of 2013 on a $63 million microbiology research facility in Minneapolis. The 80,000-sf project will be the final building to be constructed in UM's $292 million Biomedical Discovery District and will house the Department of Microbiology and other departments and schools within the Academic Health Center. Designed by BWBR Architects, the facility will provide labs, offices, collaboration areas, pharmaceutical R&D suites, and biocontainment space for the study of infectious diseases.

AssetWorks, a leader in intelligent workplace management, has secured a contract with the University of Maine System to provide a comprehensive integrated workplace management system (IWMS) intended to replace a legacy environment of four disparate management tools and numerous standalone Microsoft® Excel and Access databases. AiM™ from AssetWorks is expected to manage a broad swath of functions spanning operations and maintenance, space management, utilities management, and capital planning.