Research and Development

The United Kingdom’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) released £397 million in research facility funding in July of 2008. The Large Facilities Capital Fund awards include:

Dow Water Solutions, part of The Dow Chemical Company, will construct the Water Technology Development Center in Tarragona, Spain. The $15 million facility will support research and development for Dow's membrane, ultrafiltration, and desalination technologies to create sustainable water supplies. The center is slated for occupancy by year-end 2009 and will house 25 researchers. Acciona Agua will design and build the facility.

The University at Albany is partnering with Albany Medical Center to build a $42 million biomedical research facility at UAlbany's East Campus in East Greenbush, N.Y. The 110,000-sf Institute for Biomedical Education and Research will accommodate collaborative research on cardiology, cancer, and neurological disorders.

GE Healthcare is constructing a $165 million digital imaging production facility in the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush, N.Y.  Slated for completion in early 2009, the facility will produce sensors for digital mammography machines in a 60,000-sf cleanroom. LEED Gold certification for sustainable design will be sought for the project, which will feature use of natural light and rooftop solar panels to power the building’s laboratory and office wings. 

Monsanto broke ground on its $6 million Learning Center in Gothenburg, Neb., in July of 2008. The 25,000-sf facility will support agricultural implementation of Monsanto’s grain hybrids. The project includes expansion of the company’s existing Gothenburg research facility and the creation of test plots. Completion is slated for April of 2009. 

The University of Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College opened its $20 million Research Complex in Charlottetown in July of 2008. The 5,300-sm building will house the Centre for Bioactive Valuation, the Centre for Comparative Biomedical Research, and the Lobster Science Centre. Providing 1,100 sm of additional research laboratories and a $3 million CL3 (containment level 3) facility, the project is part of $45 million in infrastructure improvements planned and under way at the veterinary college.

Tufts University is building the $25.9 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in North Grafton, Mass. Part of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the facility is funded in part by $19.35 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The 38,000-gsf facility is sited on 5.4 acres in the Grafton Science Park and will include 23,290-sf of mechanical and basement space.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is partnering with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create the Cherokee Farm research campus in Knoxville. The project will include preservation of prehistoric remains and the relocation of an existing dairy farm to create a LEED-certified R&D incubator for commercialization of scientific discoveries. Research areas will include leadership and network computing; neutron science; nanotechnology and materials science; energy, climate, and environmental science; and biomedical science.

Purdue University will break ground in fall of 2008 on an $11 million expansion of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories in West Lafayette, Ind.  The new facility will double the lab’s existing footprint of 27,500-sf to provide a total of 52,000-sf. The first phase of the project will be comprised of 16,000-sf for the Perception-Based Engineering Laboratory and the Cummins Engine Laboratory. Housing offices and experimental facilities for over 100 faculty, graduate students, and staff, the project will feature noise and vibration mitigation technologies.

The University of California, Merced is planning to construct a $7.5 million stem cell instrumentation foundry on its campus at Castle Airport in Atwater, Calif.  Supported by $4.36 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the 8,000-sf facility will enable the creation of devices for single-cell analyses.

IBM is partnering with The Swiss Technical University (ETH) to construct a £44 million nanotechnology laboratory near Zurich, Switzerland. Housing 900-sm of cleanroom space, the facility will accommodate 268-sm for IBM, 258-sm for ETH, and 400-sm of shared research space. The building will be sited on IBM’s Rueschlikon campus and will house temperature-stable laboratories protected from vibrations and EMI. The facility will accommodate research on nanotubes, nano-optics, spintronics, and carbon-based materials.

The University of California at Santa Cruz will construct a $12.9 million stem cell research center on the fourth floor of its planned Biomedical Sciences Building. Supported by $7.2 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the 19,829-sf facility will house interdisciplinary stem cell research laboratories. The project will include core research areas, microscopy, and tissue culture rooms. 

Russian semiconductor manufacturer ANGSTREM-T has selected M + W Zander as project engineer to construct a 200mm wafer production plant at its Zelenograd campus. The 6,000-sm cleanroom facility is slated for completion in late 2009. M +W Zander is based in Germany.

The Medical Research Council has selected HBG to build the £197 million Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the United Kingdom. Designed by RMJM, the 32,500-sm laboratory will be supported by over 780 structural piles to mitigate vibration and will include an underground heat recovery pipe system. A 4,600-sm energy center will also be built. Construction will begin by year-end 2008 with completion expected in early 2012. The construction cost for the laboratory is £140 million.

The University of Minnesota will construct a plant pathogen laboratory with greenhouses on its St. Paul campus. The project was approved by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in June of 2008 and will accommodate research on diseases such as the virulent stem rust Ug99. The secure facility will feature advanced air filtration and containment technologies.