Turner Succeeds Within Billion Dollar Biodefense Building Boom

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). After years of planning (source: Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database), site work has begun on the Howard T. Ricketts Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. Turner Construction (Chicago, Illinois) is serving as the $45 million project’s construction manager. Designed by Flad (Madison, Wisconsin), the lab should be complete in early 2009. Turner has experience in this fast growing segment of the industry and has served on a number of biosafety projects across the nation (see: Turner Construction Puts Finishing Touches on $54 Million Biosecurity Research Institute in Kansas). In order to accommodate the continued need for the stringent levels of skill and attention required to build these facilities, Turner’s pharmaceutical division has formed a dedicated biocontainment construction team. The Argonne site is just one of numerous regional biocontainment or biosafety lab projects currently in development and in many cases, partially funded by the federal government.

Click on the image at right to view a list of current Bio Lab projects.

Following in the wake of 9/11, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) began to develop a strategic plan for biodefense research in February of 2002. The first item on the agenda for the agency, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was to confirm the need for expansion of targeted research into the protection of civilians in the event of a bioterrorist attack. It was then determined that there was critical need to expand the United States’ research infrastructure, increasing both the diagnosis and treatment of diseases caused by agents of bioterrorism through newly developed medications (vaccines, drugs and biologics).

Under federal guidelines, all facilities handling potentially infectious agents must adhere to strict procedures to insure containment of dangerous pathogens (see: Inside Building 33: A Look Behind the Doors of the New $186 Million NIH Biodefense Lab in Maryland).

Depending on the ease with which microorganisms can be transmitted, they are classified as Biosafety (BSL) 1, BSL-2, BSL-3 or BSL-4, with BSL-4 carrying the highest risk of infection from the most dangerous of these "germs." BSL-1 offers protection against those pathogens that are thought incapable of causing disease in healthy adults, while those found at BSL-4 level include substances such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, something for which there are no effective drugs or vaccines-a virtual death sentence for those infected.

While the benefit of these labs would appear quite obvious, news of their construction is not always met with enthusiasm from locals. Fear over dangers of possible “germ leaks” and other issues have led to a virtual guarantee of some form of protest being staged following the announcement of a new biosafety lab project. While bothersome in regards to scheduling, these objections have done little to stem the ultimate construction of the labs. Those Bostonians valiantly trying kibosh plans for a $200 million national biocontainment laboratory in their downtown area have been thwarted at every turn. While the feds and local universities, who host the majority of the regional and national labs, are more than accommodating in presenting fact sheets and public discussion forums to alleviate fear and doubt regarding the projects, it is highly unlikely a green lighted project would be scrapped no matter the vociferous pitch of objections.

Recent headlines filled with the widespread illness and actual deaths apparently resulting from ingesting spinach tainted by the e.coli germs might serve to make the public more accepting of a massive $500 million agro-biodefense lab that is currently in site selection. Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (Washington D.C.), the facility will focus on those threats to the public arising from animals and food-stock. Nobody really likes the idea of a lab next door studying unimaginable diseases and germs, until stricken with one of those diseases or germs and in need of a cure—quickly.

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