The Paul D. Coverdell Center

$40 Million Lab is UGA's Latest Research Facility

by Debra Wood

Preparing to embark on a journey to become a major factor in biomedical research, the University of Georgia in Athens is building the $40 million Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences.

Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. of Atlanta received the $32.8 million construction manager-at-risk contract on the laboratory and office building and participated in preconstruction activities.

Construction on the project began in June 2004 and is expected to wrap up in October.

"Part of our strategic plan at the university is to become a leader in the biomedical field and specifically in areas that pertain to genetics," said Danny Sniff, associate vice president for facilities at the university. "In order to recruit the best minds, we are building the facility."

Named for the late U.S. Sen. Paul D. Coverdell of Georgia, who was dedicated to health and education issues, the 135,000-sq.-ft. biomedical building will house laboratories, a seminar room and offices. The university received $10 million in federal funding and $10 million from the State of Georgia. Its real estate foundation financed the balance, after creating a unique ownership package that involves air rights.

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Georgia and federal dollars were allocated to build the basement and first floor, and the state owns those sections. The university received air rights and owns the upper two floors. The university expects funds from research grants will pay off the debt.

Sniff helped university President Michael F. Adams select a site on the 200-year-old campus. Sniff and fellow university architects came up with conceptual sketches for the building before hiring Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum's Science + Technology group of Atlanta to complete drawings for the brick-clad building. The shingled, sloped roof conceals a mechanical penthouse.

"Because of where the center sits in relationship to existing buildings on a prominent site, the university architect set the tone for it early in the project and directed the team to provide a science building under Georgian architecture," said Rohit Saxena, HOK vice president. "It's interesting in that there is a fundamental difference between how modern buildings versus formal traditional work."

The poured-in-place concrete and masonry-frame building's 25 wet laboratories are built in an open setting, allowing the 250 individual researchers expected to use the center to expand or contract the space they need based on currently funded projects. Scientists in multiple disciplines will work near each other.

"Researchers will be able to talk with each other," Sniff said. "There's not a wall between them, so collaboration should be far greater."

Saxena designed the fume hoods to vent to brick chimneys that maintain the traditional exterior appearance. The center also contains 30 procedure rooms, six chemical hood rooms, two magnetic resonance imaging rooms and a 18,000-sq.-ft. rodent vivarium in the basement.

"A challenging thing for any project is the escalation in material pricing and construction prices in general," said Keith Douglas, Whiting-Turner division vice president. "It takes a lot of sitting down with users, going through the pros and cons of every component of the building and trying to figure out how to get the most bang for the buck."

Located on a former riverbed, the center sits on a 42-ft.-deep, auger-cast pile foundation. The area remains a watershed for other parts of the campus. Whiting-Turner installed an under-slab waterproofing and dewatering system, which lowers the groundwater table adjacent to the building.

"We came up with an idea to collect all of the rainwater that is there, or will be there during many seasons, in a tank," Saxena said. "We have a filtering system that takes this water and sends it back to the building to be used for cooling-tower water, flushing toilets and irrigation."

The building has many sustainable elements, but the university is not seeking U.S. Green Building Council LEED Green Building certification due to costs for additional documentation. Many of the materials used are rapidly renewable or have recycled content.

Plumbing and electrical fixtures conserve water and energy. Occupancy sensors turn lights off when no one is in the room. And all of the labs and office receive natural daylight.

"Most laboratory buildings are overlit," Saxena said. "They may give you a scale of 70- to 100-foot candles as a range, and most engineers design to the high end. We designed to the low end. We don't want our laboratories to be overlit, because over the life of the building, [there are] operational costs."

The university also upgraded building security systems to protect from car bombs, animal rights activists or other threats. Air intakes are placed above ground. The exterior doors will remain locked, and security ballards will prevent suspicious truck deliveries from nearing the loading docks.

A sloped green lawn, framed with ornamental trees, between the building's entrance and the road will keep vehicles at a safe distance.

"It's a cool-looking building and fits into the University of Georgia character of buildings," Douglas said. "We had a tight budget and got a lot of stuff into it. We're at about $215 per square foot. They got a good value in the end, but it took a lot of work on the front end to get there."

Useful Sources:

University of Georgia
http://www.biomed.uga.edu/

Project Team Members:

Owner: University of Georgia, University Architects for Facilities Planning, Athens, Ga.
Construction Manager: Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Atlanta
Architect: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum, Atlanta
Civil Engineer: B & E Jackson & Associates, Atlanta
Structural Engineer: KSI Structural Engineers, Atlanta
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer: Vanderweil Engineers, Boston
Concrete: Total Concrete Structures, Atlanta
Masonry: Jollay Masonry Contractors, Avondale Estate, Ga.
Drywall: Mulkey Enterprises Inc., Atlanta
Mechanical: Batchelor and Kimball, Lithonia, Ga.
Electrical: Henderson Electric Co., Stone Mountain, Ga.