School's Out But Campus Construction Crews Are in with $9 Billion in Life Science Projects Under Way

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--College campuses across North America are winding up another academic year as students make preparations to leave for summer break. But that annual migration in no way translates into a quiet campus as construction crews are busy building more than $9 billion worth of new science-based research facilities. A recent survey of Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database has revealed active reports on 108 construction projects under construction on college and university campuses.

Click on the image at right to view University Life Science Project Spending Analysis Chart.

With an average total investment value (TIV) of $83 million, it becomes quite obvious that schools large and small find it important to fund these types of capital projects. Often taking years to plan -- with some taking a decade between concept and construction -- a large portion of these projects are being given the green light. In those cases where state budgets are being tightened, a number of schools are actively seeking and being successful at landing private financing.

A January 2008 analysis of all active capital projects in North America revealed that almost 50% were sourced from the public sector, with the majority of those for research. More than $26 billion of all active Life Science projects in North America are sourced from colleges, universities, institutes and government agencies. Moving beyond the typical research component, schools are frequently implementing curriculums targeting the industry, spanning all aspects from construction to production, knowing that in today's marketplace, a surfeit of intellectual capacity coupled with trained labor is an important consideration in the site-selection process of commercial pharma-biotech facility construction.

The scope of each of the 108 projects under construction varies widely and only serves to underscore how schools of all sizes are anxious to make the grade in the industry, so to speak. One of the smallest projects is only $5 million. Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana, is nearing completion on a 20,000-square-foot building that will provide practical training for students wishing to enter the medical-device and pharmaceutical-manufacturing fields. BSA Life Structures (Indianapolis, Indiana) designed the building, which is being built by Terre Haute's Garmong Construction Services.

At the other end of the scale, we can look to an actual Ivy League university in the form of Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and its $500 million Allston Science Complex project. Construction has begun on the first of four planned science buildings in the city of Allston that will eventually total nearly half a billion lab-equipped square footage. Designed by Boston's Payette & Associates, the project's construction management is being handled by Turner Construction's Boston office.

Considering the project data on a regional basis in strictly financial terms, Western Canada is in the top spot with $1.39 billion divided over a mere five construction projects. The numbers were skewed in part thanks to the massive $909 million University of Alberta project in Edmonton. The Edmonton Health Science Clinic project is adding multiple buildings totaling 1 million square feet that will add interdisciplinary research, diagnostic services and patient care. HOK Canada (Toronto, Ontario) is the lead architect for the project, which Edmonton's PCL Constructors began building last year.

Stateside, the Northeast leads the class with $1.3 billion spread over 10 projects, resulting in an average TIV of $130 million. New York's Rockefeller University has the largest current project, the $400 million Collaborative Research Center. Mitchell/Giurgola Architects LLP of NYC is the lead architect for the multi-faceted project, which includes the construction of one eight-story building and the renovation of two existing facilities. Turner Construction's New York office was awarded the construction management contract for the project.

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