Phoenix Could Soar With Biotech Project

By Tony Illia

A sleek modern looking building just completed in downtown Phoenix could transform the city into a biotechnology powerhouse. The six-story, 173,000-sq-ft structure will lodge the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and International Genomics Consortium (IGC), two high-profile groups seeking to revolutionize cancer treatment and other complex diseases through post-genome science.

The $46-million building, which opened Dec. 15, is the first structure completed in Phoenix’s planned 15.8-acre biotechnology campus on city-owned land that once housed municipal courts and a historic high school. It had become a vacant eyesore in the otherwise robust downtown Copper Square area, a 90-sq-block mixed-use entertainment district. But following a land-use study conducted three years ago, city officials decided a bioscience center was the best use for the property. To make it work, the owner gave the design-build team a wide birth to meet tenant needs.

The new TGen/IGC headquarters is expected to create 450 high-paying jobs, totaling $31.5-million annually in salaries, says Christopher F. Andres, Phoenix’s development manager. It is a long-term urban redevelopment project intended to diversify the city’s economic base by attracting manufacturing and pharmaceutical-related businesses to the region. TGen and IGC both signed 30-year lease agreements with some tax and deferred rent incentives, says Andres. Campus plans also call for another 10 buildings totaling 1-million sq ft to be constructed over a 10-year span, eventually employing up to 3,500 people.

But the crown jewel clearly is the trailblazing build-to-suit, design-build TGen/IGC project, which now serves as the gateway to Copper Square. "This excellent facility will enable TGen to further its goal of delivering improved diagnostics and therapeutics," says Dr. Jeffrey M. Trent, TGen’s president and scientific director. "We have the privilege of fostering efforts that can better the lives of people around the world through breakthroughs in medical science."

Getting there was not easy. The city of Phoenix competed against Atlanta and Baltimore to land the new headquarters and sweetened their chances by promising a new state-of-the-art spec building within two years. In 2002, it issued request-for-qualifications to design-build teams who were judged on experience, team members and project history, among other criteria. Three finalists then were interviewed by a 10-person panel about programming, schedule and concepts. Project costs were only outlined after a design-build contractor had been selected and the contract was signed. The undertaking was schedule driven, saving at least one-year over a traditional design-bid-build procurement method.

DPR Construction Inc., Redwood, Calif., and design sub SmithGroup Inc., Phoenix, was awarded the $39.8-million guaranteed maximum price contract in Nov. 2002. DPR/SmithGroup previously had teamed on other projects and had developed a comfortable working relationship. Their familiarity with one another and the project type helped fast-track design and construction. Architectural services were provided under a flat-fee contract. The 438-day project, which carried $10,000-a-day late penalties, opened one-month later than anticipated due to $3.5-million worth of scope changes, mostly tenant improvements. As such, DPR received 27 additional days from the city that eliminated all liquidated damages. The project finished 2% under budget with the cost savings reverting to the city.

Making Miracles

To speed the project to market, the TGen/IGC building’s programming and design came together within 12 weeks, a blistering pace that is about 75% faster than a design-bid-build approach, says G. Craig Randock, SmithGroup’s senior vice president and design principal. The company’s offices serendipitously are located across from the site, so SmithGroup temporarily transformed a portion of neighboring office space into project headquarters, allowing around-the-clock interface with the contractor, tenant and city officials. The firm also received a separate $59,000 city contract to develop the site’s master plan, which helped both the building and site layout come together in a quick and cohesive way. Click here to view campus plan>>

Although many of the building’s scientists were still being hired, SmithGroup/DPR drew upon their biotech experience and teaming relationship to create a flexible floor plan that anticipated many needs. Walls and floors were stiffened to meet the structure’s vibration threshold of 2,000-micro-in. per second for a rattle-free laboratory environment. And redundant fiber optic and telephone lines were installed, ensuring constant service even if one system goes down. The team also added a 1,000-kW back-up diesel generator so critical work would not be disrupted by power outages.

	A flexible floor plan anticipates needs of scientists but also limits vibration.

"The design-build process enabled us to prioritize our needs by function and cost during the programming phase in order to meet the city’s budget," says Richard L. Love, TGen’s chief operating officer. "Once the building details emerged, SmithGroup/DPR value engineered the project to return the items we had identified."

The building’s HVAC demands are tremendous due to the sensitivity of the electronic research equipment. Through a novel agreement with Northwind Phoenix LLC, a subsidiary of APS Energy Services, Phoenix, the TGen/IGC building uses the nearby Bank One Ballpark’s central plant, which saved about $700,000 in equipment costs.

Instead of chillers, three 500-ton plate-frame heat exchangers were installed in a 10,000-sq-ft partial basement. They interface with the Bank One central plant, which has 20,000 tons of peak cooling capacity with centrifugal and rotary screw chillers and a 36,000-ton-an-hour ice storage tank. The system manufactures ice each night when utility loads and rates are lowest. During peak daytime hours, the ice is melted and the water distributed through an underground network for air-conditioning use in the TGen/IGC building five blocks south of the plant. The water then is returned to the icemaker.

The 75-ft-tall cast-in-place structure falls just under the city’s high-rise limit, which made permitting significantly easier. One major design/construction challenge was housing the building’s extensive cabling and ductwork as well as meeting its vibration tolerances while still creating flexibility for future technology. SmithGroup/DPR used a highly efficient cost-effective solution provided by Paul Kohler Engineers. The Scottsdale-based structural engineer devised a scheme for a high-strength concrete exoskeleton that minimized the number of interior columns, which are set on a 31-ft-sq grid. The building also uses high-strength concrete of up to 7,000 lb per sq in. in order to meet the vibration standard. That is nearly double the strength needed to support a similar load.

The structure rests atop a foundation of spread footings and 48 drilled piles, averaging 3 ft dia and 28 ft deep. The building’s geometry consists of two offset intersecting rectangles with 10 shear walls for the stairwells and elevator corridors. The 14-in.-thick mildly reinforced concrete floors, average 22,500-sq-ft and use a double rebar mat that ties into shear walls. With no supporting beams or post-tensioning, there is access through the floor slab, if needed. Using structural steel would have meant 30-in.-deep beams in order to achieve the same feat, with no room left for mechanical ductwork, says Bart A. Rogers, DPR’s design-build manager.

Early Payoff

One of the primary tenant mandates was extensive use of glazing for natural daylight inside all of the laboratory areas. But Phoenix’s cruel desert temperature routinely climbs past 100° F, creating an expensive cooling dilemma. The design-build solution was a roof-mounted energy recovery system that works like an engine radiator by using exhaust air to pre-heat or pre-cool fresh air entering the building. This approach saves roughly 200 tons worth of peak cooling capacity. Other energy saving design measures include electronic sensors that shut-off lights when rooms are not in use and floor slabs that extend 24-in. past the building’s exterior to create shade overhangs.

	Heavy duty mechanical systems help support project.

The city is giddy about the outcome. It already has hired DPR/SmithGroup to do the design and construction for the campus’ next $27-million, 60,000-sq-ft phase, which entails renovating three Phoenix Union High School buildings constructed when Arizona was still a U.S. territory. The three-story buildings, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, currently are undergoing physical inspection. The brick and stucco exteriors will be refurbished and the interiors modernized for use as classrooms and lecture areas for the biotechnology park. DPR is working as an at-risk construction manager and SmithGroup has a separate at-fee city contract. The contract costs and specifics have yet to be defined. The project is scheduled to break ground in the third quarter of 2005.

		Signature tower entrance divides the buildings. (Renderings courtesy of Smithgroup)
	Lobby emphasizes the clean, crisp and cooling lines of the building.

Meanwhile, the TGen/IGC building has since sparked additional plans for the transformation of Copper Square into a medical sciences corridor. A for-profit venture between TGen and Arizona State University called Nanobiomics has been set up to specialize in diagnostic tests and ASU plans to relocate its nursing and health programs to its downtown campus across from the TGen/IGC building. The Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, a coalition of state universities, also plans to locate its own clinical campus on the TGen/IGC site. And in the TGen/IGC building, negotiations are under way for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to occupy the remaining space.

"Bioscience is the fastest growing segment of the national economy. We’re confident that IGC/TGen and their unique strategic partnership with the state’s three universities and partnering with research organizations across the country will enhance Arizona's economy by bringing new industries and new jobs to the state," says Richard M. Mallery, IGC chairman. "We will keep our best and brightest young people right here in Arizona."

By Tony Illia
The author is a Las Vegas-based correspondent for The McGraw-Hill Cos. He regularly reports on design and construction industry issues.

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