August 4th, 2011, By Dana Haugh
Brookhaven Laboratory announces their planned renovation of two buildings on the 5,300-acre campus, set to begin October 1. The project is estimated to cost a total of $50.8 million, $33 million going solely into the renovation and modernizing of both buildings. The renovations will be funded by the U.S. Department of Engery’s Science Laboratories Infrastructure program and will focus on bringing the chemistry and physics buildings up-to-date (both were designed in the 1960s). The entire process will make each building more energy-efficient and reliable, installing components such as intelligent air-handling systems, HEPA filters and updated electrical power sources.
Both buildings are set to receive a LEED silver certification from the USGBC, an organization that focuses on creating sustainable and energy-efficient buildings. Around 44 employees have already been relocated to another building in preparation for the upcoming construction and another 84 employees will soon follow suit.
Accompanying the building renovations, a team known as the “Modernization Project Office” will be ensuring all spaces are properly utilized. These steps include consolidating libraries and converting unused storage space into extra labs and offices.
U.W. Marx Construction company has been chosen to perform the task of bringing Brookhaven’s buildings up-to-date and saluted the Lab’s decision: “We are honored to have been selected as the contractor for this project . . . Through U.W. Marx’s six-decade history, we have continually strived to provide the very best in construction services available anywhere. We look forward to a successful project and new friendships.”
The chemistry building’s renovations come at an optimal time and will guarantee Brookhaven Lab remains one of the top laboratories in the world for research and innovation. The building currently houses scientists devoted to performing research on sustainability and their efforts have been hampered by their “aging” facilities. New laboratories will bring much-needed
upgrades and efficiency that the team needs to conduct their analyses.
Over 2,000 scientists from around the world conduct experiments on the Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the physics building is home to them and the United States ATLAS group who work on the Large Hadron Collider over at CERN. Thus a renovation will be greatly welcomed. The establishment’s three-story lab will get a complete makeover and other areas such as seminar rooms and “clean rooms” will receive much needed attention.
Information gathered from BNL