Hawkins Construction Company has been awarded the contract for the new Research Center of Excellence II and will begin preparing the site this week.
The Omaha firm also built the Durham Research Center, which opened in 2003 only a few yards north of the construction site.
“We are please to start the project before the end of the year and welcome Hawkins back on the second building,” said Mike Faber, manager of capital projects for UNMC’s Facilities Management & Planning.
Faber will serve as project manager for the Research Center of Excellence II, a 10-level tower that will be nearly identical to the Durham Research Center.
Hawkins’s initial activities include installing security fencing around the construction area and placing job trailers on the site. Workers also will begin demolition work on the concrete block retaining wall, directly south of the Durham Research Center.
Medical center employees and visitors are urged to use caution walking and driving on both Emile Street and Durham Research Plaza, Faber said. Individuals also should observe temporary barricades and fencing, which will be replaced with more permanent features. The front entry sidewalk and loading dock to the Durham Research Center will remain open throughout construction, which is expected to end December 2008. The two research towers will be connected with a covered passageway and interaction space.
The new research tower will contain 252,179 gross square feet with 98 state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as office space for investigators and laboratory support space. The $74 million facility is funded largely through private support, with Charles Durham providing the lead gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation. In addition, the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan to appropriate $12 million in non-state general fund resources. The state support is intended primarily to construct bioterrorism preparedness laboratories within the RCE II.