Mortenson Completes USDA Campus Modernization with State-of-the-Art BSL Laboratories

A vision of biosafety, functionality, and flexibility has been realized in a state-of-the-art biological safety level laboratory, encompassing BSL-2, ABSL-2, BSL-3E, ABSL-3E, and BSL-3AG spaces, delivered after seven years of meticulous planning, design, and phased construction. Awarded in 2017, this $149.2 million project involved the modernization of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) campus for the USDA’s National Poultry Research Center (NPRC) in Athens, Georgia. More than 3,200 workers logged 1.2 million hours to deliver one of the nation’s most complex laboratory campuses, meeting USDA’s evolving research needs with advanced biosafety and flexibility.

Established in 1962, the SEPRL research program focuses on exotic, emerging, and endemic viral poultry diseases with national and international impact. The modernization effort replaced outdated research facilities with state-of-the-art laboratories while tripling available research space to support the NPRC’s mission of advancing poultry health, food safety, and global trade.  Due to the critical nature of the research, it was imperative that the campus remain operational throughout construction, requiring extensive coordination with user groups to manage relocations to temporary and permanent facilities, minimizing disruption to ongoing research and operations.

Approximately 245,000 sf of new research and administrative space was built as part of the project.  The new 13-acre research campus was constructed within the footprint of the existing research buildings, requiring the development of an extensive phased construction approach to permit NPRC to continue mission-critical research during construction.

This phased project approach required new facilities to be completed, commissioned, and certified for use prior to demolition of existing facilities.   As each new facility was brought online, the corresponding existing facilities were abated and demolished making way for subsequent phases of new construction.  This sequencing served as a general roadmap for the project and was essential to maintaining uninterrupted research operations.

By diligently executing the processes outlined in Mortenson’s Disruption Avoidance Planning Process, the project team took additional steps to ensure no impacts occurred to NPRC’s research activities.  A few of the additional controls and techniques implemented included:

• Weekly coordination meetings with NRPC facility maintainers and researchers to review project activities to determine potential impacts to operations.  When work was identified that could potentially impact NPRC, both NPRC and Mortenson partnered to find mutually agreeable solutions.
• At key points in construction, NPRC researchers were invited to tour the facilities. Feedback from these tours was reviewed by the joint construction team consisting of USDA, NPRC, and Mortenson, and when issues were identified that could impact research quality, the team collaboratively to resolve them.
• During site development activities, utilities scheduled for extension or demolition were jointly identified and confirmed by NPRC and Mortenson prior to any work taking place, minimizing unknown impacts from utility work to existing facilities.
• To facilitate the final phase of the project, Mortenson provided temporary storage space for NPRC to relocate laboratory equipment, allowing existing facilities to be demolished ahead of schedule and accelerating completion of site activities.
• Near each facility’s completion date, key NPRC personnel were permitted early access, enabling NPRC to develop facility-specific standard operating procedures, transition plans, and maintenance plans.  Early familiarization with facility systems supported rapid and effective occupancy by NPRC once facilities were turned over.   

Keeping project purpose central in all communications, decisions, and actions, the construction team consisting of USDA, NPRC, and Mortenson successfully navigated the complexities of constructing a highly technical research campus while ensuring uninterrupted continuation of NPRC’s mission-critical research.  These efforts ensured the facilities were fully functional and ready for operation at turnover, giving USDA confidence in the reliability and resilience of the campus as it enters its next phase of research.