School's Out, but Campus Construction Crews Are In with Nearly $12 Billion in Life Science Projects

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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 quiet campuses as construction crews are busy building almost $12 billion worth of new science-based research facilities. A recent survey of Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database has revealed active reports on 163 capital projects under construction on college and university campuses.

With an average total investment value (TIV) of $74 million, it is obvious that Boards of Trustees across the country find it important to fund these projects. A look at the combined TIV of the top 10 projects underscores that importance: a whopping $3.6 billion.

Often taking years to plan--with some taking a decade between concept and construction--a large portion of these projects ultimately are given the green light. In those cases where the projects fail to make it into the state budget, a number of schools are actively seeking and successfully landing private financing.

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 163 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. The smallest reported project is only $1 million. The University of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio) is beefing up its Core Research facility through building renovations and equipment additions. Supporting medical research and other scientific disciplines, the project was designed by the SSOE Group (Toledo) and is being built by the Van Tassel Construction Company (Sylvania, Ohio).

At the other end of the scale, we can look to an actual Ivy League university in the form of Cornell and its $700 million Biomedical Research building through its Weill Medical College. Construction began in 2009 on the 16-story, 500,000-square-foot building located at East 69th Street and York in New York City. Designed by Ennead Architects LLP (New York, New York), the project's construction management is being handled by Tishman Construction (New York). The current schedule calls for a late 2013-early 2014 completion of the building.

Considering the project data on a regional basis in strictly financial terms, the Northeast market region claims the top spot, with $3.3 billion in investment divided over a 30 construction projects. The largest of these is the aforementioned Cornell project, with New York's Rockefeller University firmly in second place with its $400 million Collaborative Research Center. Mitchell/Giurgola Architects LLP (New York) is the lead architect for the multi-faceted project, which includes the construction of an eight-story building and the renovation of two existing facilities. Turner Construction's New York office landed the construction management contract for the project.

While some business opportunities still exist within the university projects already under construction, there are far more available on those that have not. A recent analysis of Industrial Info Resources' database revealed 156 active university sourced projects representing a $10.2 billion investment. None of these projects have started construction and are in various stages of planning and/or engineering.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.