Research and Development

Nanjing University has selected HDR to provide conceptual and schematic design services, as well as a master plan, for the new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences building. Located in Nanjing, China, the 650,000-sf facility will house four academic departments (material science and engineering; quantum electronics and optical engineering; biomedical engineering; and energy science and engineering), six interdisciplinary research centers, and a state-of-the-art conference center.

Long Beach Memorial began building the $31 million Todd Cancer Institute Pavilion in July of 2012. The facility is being constructed by McCarthy Building Companies and occupancy is expected early in the summer of 2013. The project includes the transformation of 65,000 sf on the second and third floors of an existing four-level administration building into a dedicated cancer treatment center. A two-level, 1,913-sf lobby addition will also be constructed.

West Virginia University broke ground on a $22 million animal research facility in Morgantown in July of 2012. Located adjacent to the existing Health Sciences Center, the 22,000-sf building will provide biosafety laboratories and a rodent vivarium. The project is supported by $14.5 million in federal stimulus funding.

The University of California, Berkeley will begin occupying the new Energy Biosciences Building in August of 2012. Formerly known as the Helios Energy Research Facility, the five-story, 112,800-sf project provides collaborative research space for the study of lignocellulosic biofuels. The facility houses wet laboratories for molecular and microbial biology, fermentation, and chemical separation, as well as greenhouses, warm and cold rooms, shared instrumentation space, offices, workrooms, and conference space.

Colorado State University has broken ground for its new Equine Reproduction Laboratory in Fort Collins. The 12,000-sf facility will provide teaching space, microbiology and molecular labs, and exam rooms. The $5 million project will support research in equine diseases and advanced reproductive technologies such as embryo transfer. 

The University of Dundee began building the $20 million Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research in Scotland in July of 2012. Part of the College of Life Sciences, the four-story facility will house collaborative drug discovery research with labs, offices, support, and a high-throughput robotic and molecular pharmacology suite. Disciplines represented in the facility will include mathematical biology and biophysics, bioinformatics, and data analysis.

The University of Auckland is initiating a $200 million redevelopment project to create its new Science Centre. Providing advanced teaching and research space, the project includes construction of an 11-story, 253,000-sf building and renovation of an adjacent tower. The cross-disciplinary facility is being designed by Archibus and will provide a new entranceway to the University. Construction will begin in 2013 with completion expected in 2017.

The Max Planck Society began occupying its new campus in Jupiter, Fla., in June of 2012. Located on six acres on the MacArthur campus of Florida Atlantic University, the 100,000-sf research facility provides 58,000 sf of lab space for wet and dry bench research, including instrumentation suites, core imaging labs, and computational space. The center also provides research and administrative offices, conference rooms, a 100-seat auditorium, and a large atrium.

Healthpoint Biotherapeutics will begin construction in mid-2012 on a renovation of its 80,000-sf research and manufacturing campus in Fort Worth, Texas. The new facilities will comprise 25,000 sf of advanced manufacturing infrastructure, laboratories, and clean rooms for the production of cell-based therapies. Healthpoint will invest approximately $60 million to build out and staff the research and manufacturing facility over the next few years.

India's Defence Research and Development Organisation opened the Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL) in Bangalore in June of 2012. The advanced R&D laboratory will support biomedical engineering, human aviation engineering, and the development of military life support systems and aero-medical equipment. The facility houses a hydrostatic simulator, a dynamic test centrifuge, a high altitude simulation chamber, and a testing suite for technical textiles.

As U.S. manufacturing continues to evolve into more highly technical industries, the demand for creating environmentally controlled space within manufacturing facilities is growing. To help meet this need, PortaFab has expanded its line of SteelSpan industrial wall panels. The new line extension features a ‘no profile’ smooth surface option which provides an easy to clean solution for use in environmental control applications and for medical, microprocessing, and nanotechnology manufacturing.

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research has selected Diamond Schmitt Architects to design research laboratories for its new facility in the west tower of the MaRS phase two development under construction in Toronto. The project will provide wet and dry labs for genomics and bioinformatics research, conference rooms, interaction areas, a library, and core labs for microscopy, tissue culture, and bacterial culture. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2013.

Dartmouth College is planning to build the Williamson Translational Research Building on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center campus in Lebanon, N.H. The facility will provide laboratories for multidisciplinary research in neuroscience, cancer, immunology, and infectious diseases. Dartmouth will also build the 120,000-sf North Campus Academic Center in Hanover.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has awarded three contracts for the creation of pandemic influenza vaccines and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures for national emergency preparedness.

The University of Edinburgh opened the $85 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine in June of 2012. The facility provides advanced laboratories for stem cell research and can accommodate up to 250 scientists. The three-story, 95,800-sm project was built by Miller Construction and represents the first phase of the BioQuarter research campus. An adjacent $38 million biotech incubator was also completed.