Research and Development

University College Dublin is planning to build a €60 million research and innovation facility in Dublin, Ireland. Housing research, teaching, and chemistry laboratories, the 10,000-sm facility will be accompanied by 8,600-sm of renovated space in the existing UCD science center. The project, which will accommodate more than 2,000 undergraduate students and 525 postgraduate students, is part of University College Dublin’s campus master plan to further Ireland’s national science education and research initiative.

Elanco officially broke ground on its 130,000-sf headquarters in Greenfield, Ind., in July of 2009. Located on 20-acres in the Progress Park life sciences development, the facility will enable the global animal health company to consolidate operations with its existing R&D facilities in Greenfield. Elanco is a division of Eli Lilly and Co.

Esco announced the launch of a new range of Pharmacon Downflow Booths in July of 2009. Downflow booths are used in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries for operations such as sampling, grinding, dispensing, and filling, which generate airborne particles. The booths support processes that involve hazardous, toxic, or sensitizing materials and protect operators and adjoining areas from exposure to aerosols of the process materials.Esco Pharmacon Downflow Booths feature:

National Coatings opened the Center for Technical Innovation in Camarillo, Calif., in late June of 2009. The state-of-the-art R&D laboratory is equipped with advanced instrumentation for the creation of energy efficient roofing and coating technologies.

The University of British Columbia is planning to renovate two buildings of the Biological Sciences Complex in Vancouver, Canada. Designed by Acton Ostry Architects with RFD (Research Facilities Design) as laboratory design consultant, this upgrade work will consist of a total of 61,670-nsf of laboratory and laboratory support space. Together, these buildings will house research labs, bioimaging facilities, aquatic animal holding, classrooms, and academic offices.

General Electric Co. is planning to build the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center in Van Buren Township, Mich. Sited to provide a revitalization of the Detroit area's manufacturing sector, the 100,000-sf R&D facility will house up to 1,200 engineers and researchers engaged in the development of clean energy technologies.

Fraunhofer Institute for Circuits and Systems (IMS) completed a €26.2 million RFID research building in Duisburg, Germany, in early summer of 2009. The three-story InHaus2 facility provides laboratories and offices for developing advanced radio frequency identification tags, including building monitoring and construction technologies. The general contractor for the project was Hochtief.

City University of New York is constructing phase one of the $59 million Advanced Science Research Center. The 200,000-sf laboratory building will support research in photonics, nanotechnology, water and environmental sensing, structural biology, and neuroscience. Featuring a core cleanroom for diagnosis and fabrication, the Advanced Science Research Center will house advanced imaging instrumentation, a rooftop observatory, a 100-seat auditorium, a café, and an education center.

Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai opened its £100 million European Knowledge Centre in Hatfield, U.K., in early July of 2009. Located on 14.5 acres in the Hatfield Business Park, the facility will accommodate 500 employees. The project includes a research laboratory, a manufacturing facility, an office building, and shared facilities. The European Knowledge Centre integrates the functions of discovery research, clinical development, production, packaging, marketing, and administration. 

Texas A&M University broke ground on the Citrus Center in Weslaco on June 30, 2009. Designed by Kell Munoz of San Antonio, the research facility is slated for completion in summer of 2010. The two-story Citrus Center will house research labs, diagnostic labs, meeting rooms, classrooms, administrative offices, and faculty offices. A large open laboratory will feature tissue culture areas, a cold room, and a mass spectrometer. The facility will support research on citrus fruit growth and production.

SGS North America opened a new 16,500-sf state-of-the-art facility in May in Deer Park, Texas. The Houston office of LCS Constructors used the design-build method of project delivery, and completed the project in nine months. More than 75% of the building is lab space for comprehensive laboratory testing services to support SGS’s regional as well as global customers. The facility handles petroleum, petrochemical and agricultural products, biofuels, LPG, LNG, and other commodities in accordance with ASTM, IP, UOP, ISO, and EN methods.

The University of Miami (UM), working with Wexford Science & Technology of Hanover, Md., is embarking on the 211,000-sf phase one of a planned six-building, 2 million-sf UM Life Science Park aimed at both established and spin-off companies who want to work with university researchers. The facilities will encompass preconstructed wet labs, offices, and shared facilities for technology development, as well as housing for researchers and academia, and street-level retail.

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research has consolidated three Orlando offices in a new 175,000-sf, $85 million research facility designed to study diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Medical City is a 600-acre science and technology park within Windermere, Fla.-based Tavistock Group’s Lake Nona mixed-use master-planned community.

The Skidaway Institute of Oceanography has opened a new $5 million, 11,000-sf facility to further their research on marine and coastal systems. The Marine and Coastal Science Research and Instructional Center (MCSRIC) houses high-tech lab, conference, office, and collaboration space in a single-story building designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent of Atlanta, who have targeted LEED Gold certification for the facility.

The Engineering Department at Yamagata University is planning to begin construction in fall 2009 on a 6,000-square-meter research center in Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture. The 1- to 2-billion yen facility will focus on research in organic electroluminescence-the use of organic material that emits light with the application of electric current, a process which consumes much less electricity compared to other forms of illumination. Anticipated applications of the process include use in cell phones and TV screens.