Sustainability

The University of Bristol has completed construction on its $92 million Life Sciences building in the United Kingdom. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the 145,000-sf facility provides the School of Biological Sciences with teaching labs, seminar rooms, and offices arranged around a central atrium. A five-story research wing accommodates cleanrooms, imaging suites, labs, acoustic chambers, and greenhouse space. BREAM Excellent sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which features a 41-ft tall living wall.

Rutgers University broke ground in June of 2014 on the $115 million Chemistry and Chemical Biology Building. Designed by Flad Architects, the four-story, 145,000-sf facility is sited on the Busch campus in Piscataway, N.J., and will support multidisciplinary collaboration with integrated teaching, research, and support space. Core facilities will include a microscopy suite, a class 100 chemistry cleanroom, and labs for optical spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography.

The Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL), Phase III of a major expansion to Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, is on course to be the first building in the world awarded certification as both LEED Platinum and a Four-Stars Sustainable Site (SITES), both of which were obtained in 2013, as well as Living Building Certification. It was certified as a Net-Zero Energy Building in 2014.

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital will begin construction in summer of 2014 on a $40 million research and teaching building in Liverpool, U.K. Designed by Hopkins Architects, the 75,000-sf, three-story project will provide research and teaching labs, offices, meeting rooms, lecture halls, breakout spaces, and a library. Comprising two wings adjoining a curved central atrium, the flexible facility will feature a corridor-free interior to encourage interaction and collaboration.

Bay Path College is building the Center for Graduate Studies in Health Sciences in East Longmeadow, Mass. The $16 million facility will provide classrooms, laboratories, training rooms, faculty offices, conference rooms, and administrative space. Construction began on the two-story, 56,000-sf facility in November of 2013 and completion is expected in early 2015.

Princeton University is building the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment in Princeton, N.J. Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects of New York as three interconnected structures, the 129,000-gsf interdisciplinary facility will feature a cleanroom, teaching labs, classrooms, offices, a lecture hall, conference rooms, and low-vibration labs for nanotechnology research and imaging. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which is slated for completion in 2015.

MaineGeneral Alfond Center for Health in Augusta is the first facility in Maine and the second in the nation to attain the new 2010 LEED Gold for Healthcare certification. The Integrated Project Delivery Team (IPD) included the joint venture architectural firms SMRT and TRO Jung|Brannen and the joint venture construction team of HP Cummings Construction Company and Robins & Morton.

UConn Health Center is building a $203 million outpatient care pavilion in Farmington, Conn. The eight-story, 300,000-sf facility will provide consolidated ambulatory care services to maximize patient convenience and will feature flexible, 120-sf exam rooms shared by different departments. The project will house the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Comprehensive Spine Center, primary care, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, women's health, neurology, rheumatology, physical therapy, urology, surgery, and imaging.

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey broke ground in June of 2014 on a $29 million expansion of the Unified Science Center in Galloway Township, N.J. Designed to support STEM programs, the 54,000-sf addition will provide 32 labs, seven classrooms, 40 faculty offices, computer labs, a vivarium, and a greenhouse. The sustainably designed project will feature highly efficient building systems and is expected to open in spring of 2017.

Northwestern Medicine is planning to construct a replacement facility for Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois. Designed to provide flexible, patient-centered care, the 483,500-sf project will include 114 private inpatient beds, 72 outpatient care rooms, eight surgical suites, and an imaging center. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which is slated for completion in mid-2017.

The Pirbright Institute has awarded John Sisk & Son a $28.6 million contract to build a research facility for the study of livestock diseases. The two-story, 43,000-sf project is referred to as the CL2 Laboratory and will accommodate 90 scientists. BREAAM Excellent sustainable design certification will be sought for the biocontainment level two facility. The lab is part of a planned $168 million expansion of the Pirbright campus that will include a $118 million facility supporting avian disease research.

Apple has initiated site work for the Apple Campus 2 in Cupertino, Calif. The new headquarters will provide 3.42 million sf of office and R&D facilities on a 176-acre campus designed to accommodate 14,000 employees. The project centerpiece is a four-story, 2.8 million-sf circular building with a glass curtainwall and 700,000 rooftop photovoltaic panels, the construction cost of which is $5 billion. A 120,000-sf auditorium, a 100,000-sf fitness center, 100,000 sf of utility plant space, and parking structures will also be built.

The University of Chicago is building the $215 million William Eckhardt Research Center for the Institute for Molecular Engineering. The 265,000-sf facility will house the 12,000-sf Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility and laboratories for astronomy, chemistry, physics, and astrophysics. Providing integrated research offices, conference rooms, interaction space, and an atrium, the seven-story project includes two floors below grade with low-vibration cleanrooms and molecular imaging suites. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) opened the Singapore Innovation Center in April of 2014. The facility features 250 laboratories housing approximately 500 investigators engaged in materials science, engineering, and biomedical R&D. The project includes a pilot manufacturing plant to support accelerated product development and a 3D printing suite for the creation of packaging. The LEED Silver facility is a zero-waste site and has attained Green Mark sustainable design certification.

Emory University will break ground in spring of 2014 on a $30 million science building for Oxford College. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and built by Brasfield & Gorrie, the four-story, 57,500-sf facility will provide nine teaching labs for biology, chemistry, physics, and geology; three research labs; three classrooms; an imaging center; and a greenhouse. The building will feature faculty-student research suites on each floor and a central interaction atrium.