McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.

Architect:

BWS Architects

Client:

Arizona State University

Scope Of Work

McCarthy recently completed construction of the $120 million Biodesign Institute C research laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU). The building represents the third in ASU’s 14-acre Biodesign Institute complex located on the main campus in Tempe, Ariz.

The new 191,035-square-foot research facility includes five stories, a mechanical penthouse, plus a basement that connects with the ASU Biodesign Institute B building and houses the world's first compact free electron X-ray laser. The project is comprised of approximately 60,000 square feet of flexible lab space for up to 80 lead researchers and 300 support staff who will be supporting ASU’s goal of increasing research revenue to $815 million by 2025. The building’s adaptable design accommodates multiple types of scientific research, including chemistry, biological sciences and engineering research. The building, comprised mostly of wet laboratories and offices, also includes high-bay spaces.

Biodesign Institute C will house a one-of-a-kind key drug discovery and bioenergy research tool – the world’s first compact free electron X-ray laser – a super X-ray that peers deep inside proteins to better understand both the action of molecules critical to cancer and other devastating diseases and how plants convert sunlight into renewable energy.

The building’s fifth floor is designed to accommodate Arizona’s growing success in the area of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia research, and is envisioned to ultimately house one of the largest teams of Alzheimer’s researchers in the nation.

The project was designated a “STAR Site” by the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH), which presented the award to McCarthy as part of its Construction Voluntary Protection Program (C-VPP). Companies, general contractors and job sites that are awarded the STAR designation demonstrate exemplary and comprehensive safety and health management systems.

VPP STAR designation is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) highest program of safety recognition across all federal and state OSHA offices. It recognizes employers and workers in private and federal workplaces who have exemplified effective safety and health management systems that achieve injury and illness rates more than 50 percent below the national average.

Work began in October 2016 and the structure topped out in June 2017, with substantial completion in the spring of 2018.