Pfizer broke ground in June of 2017 on a $200 million research and development facility in Chesterfield, Mo. Housing the BioTherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences group, the 295,000-sf project will enable the advancement of Pfizer’s biologics, vaccines, and gene therapy portfolio. Designed by Forum and EwingCole, the facility will feature flexible laboratories, open offices, and collaboration spaces with advanced conferencing technologies.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory broke ground in late January of 2017 on the $91.5 million Integrative Genomics Building in Berkeley, Calif. Designed by SmithGroup, the four-story, 82,604-gsf facility will house approximately 300 researchers and staff from the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and the Systems Biology Knowledgebase.
After a one-year delay, Congress has passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes new funding totaling $4.8 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $500 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring novel drug therapies and medical devices to market more quickly, and $1 billion to fight the growing opioid crisis. The NIH funding includes $1.8 billion for Vice President Joseph Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot,” $1.6 billion for President Obama’s BRAIN initiative, and additional money earmarked for precision medicine. The Cures Act funding is separate from, and in addition to, annual NIH budget increases. It comes on the heals of a $2 billion increase in NIH funding last year, the largest increase in a decade. If the trend continues, it could result in a need for additional research infrastructure in the form of renovations and new construction.
Great Ormond Street Hospital will begin construction in January of 2017 on the £42 million Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children in London. Designed by Stanton Williams, the 140,000-sf translational research facility will provide collaborative biomedical labs and instrumentation suites to support the delivery of personalized gene and cell therapies and innovative medical devices.
UC San Diego Health opened the $943 million Jacobs Medical Center in November of 2016 in La Jolla. Designed by Cannon Design, the 10-story, 509,500-sf facility includes the Rady Pavilion for Women & Infants, the Foster Pavilion for Cancer Care, and the Vassiliadis Family Pavilion for Advanced Surgery.
The State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University opened the final phase of its Biotech Accelerator in September of 2016. Located in Syracuse, N.Y., the 60,000-sf facility was designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative and constructed by Murnane Building Contractors. Providing wet labs, dry labs, and core research space with shared equipment, the project houses the Medical Innovation and Novel Discovery (MIND) Center and the Molecular Pathology Next Generation Sequencing Lab.
Dixie Regional Medical Center is initiating a $300 million expansion of its healthcare campus in St. George, Utah. Doubling the size of Dixie's existing hospital facilities, the 500,000-sf project will enable important medical services to be relocated and consolidated. The three-building expansion will include a new cancer center with a precision medicine department to provide personalized genomic therapies. Completion is expected in late 2018.
Global pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza began construction in April of 2016 on a 100,000-sf facility in Pearland, Texas. Featuring a fully segregated fill/finish suite, the project will include eight independent cGMP modular cleanrooms with single-use bioreactors for the production of viral gene and virally modified therapeutics. Grade-B cleanrooms will also be constructed to continue the manufacture of EMA-regulated cell therapy products. Operations are expected to begin at the site in mid-2017.
The University of Utah broke ground in late March of 2016 on the $55 million Gary & Ann Crocker Science Center in Salt Lake City. Providing interdisciplinary science labs, lecture halls, classrooms, an atrium, and a business incubator, the four-story facility will house the Center for Cell and Genome Science and the Center for Science and Math Education. The 123,500-sf project includes renovation of the existing 71,000-sf George Thomas building and construction of a 52,500-sf addition.
A backlog of construction, renovations, and upgrades may finally come to life, thanks to the $2 billion increase in NIH funding Congress approved in December, the first increase in more than 12 years. More than 80 percent of the $32 billion NIH budget is dedicated to extramural research—research outside the NIH itself—meaning that an additional $1.6 billion in research grants will be made available this year.
Sanford Health began building the $30 million Edith Sanford Breast Center in fall of 2015 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Designed by Architecture Incorporated, the three-story, 48,000-sf facility will provide space for clinical trials, a core lab for genomics research, a biobank, a multidisciplinary conference center, and a comprehensive range of services including mammography and surgery. The project includes 27,000 sf of renovated space in the adjoining Sanford Cancer Center and 58,000 sf of new construction.
The Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada (AMRIC) broke ground in December of 2015 on a CAD$12 million biomedical laboratory in Sudbury, Ontario. The project involves the conversion of an existing building into a 14,000-sf research facility to support the discovery and development of innovative therapies for a variety of diseases and conditions, with a special focus on personalized medicine. Completion is expected in 2017.
An explosion in computation and large data set analyses is challenging the nature and processes of translational research, significantly impacting how such institutions plan for space needs. The link between strategic planning, programming, and design is much more dynamic, and requires faster feedback and the development of new metrics to drive value creation through strategic planning.
"That increase in computation has a significant impact on how we strategically plan for translational research,” says Andy Snyder, AIA, principal/architect at NBBJ.
Illumina is expanding its San Diego operations with the development of a 300,000-sf facility for the production of technologies for genetic analysis. Designed by Ewing Cole, the project will create advanced manufacturing space, laboratories, offices, warehousing, and support. BNBuilders is providing both pre-construction and construction services for the interior buildout of the facility as well as the expansion of the central plant. Completion is expected in late 2016.
The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) is planning a $75 million mouse production facility in Ellsworth, Maine. The project involves the complete renovation of an existing 143,000-sf building to create advanced vivarium space for the breeding and housing of mice for genetic research. The facility will consolidate all of JAX’s East Coast production operations in a single location, enabling the company’s Bar Harbor campus to provide additional research, education, and conference space.
