Project will use local suppliers, contractors; facility will be between 110,000 to 145,000 square feet

A $64.2 million contract has been

awarded to a Houston-based partnership to design and build a new energy

sciences building at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Construction could start later this

year or in early 2020 on the building that will be between 110,000 and 145,000

square feet. It will house labs and workstations for about 175 PNNL and

visiting scientists, engineers and research support staff conducting research

that leads to improved catalysts, and more efficient energy and transportation

technologies, according to a news release from PNNL.

The new building is expected to open

in 2021.

The facility will be designed and

constructed by Harvey Cleary Builders and Kirksey

Architecture. Harvey Cleary Builders was the general construction contractor

for a $75 million biological and computational sciences facility built on the

Department of Energy’s PNNL campus in 2008-09.

The building, which will be named

later, is expected to tap local construction subcontractors and suppliers, PNNL

said.

The building will be ready for

occupancy in mid- or late 2021.

In March 2018, Congress approved

funding for the building’s design and construction. The state of Washington

also has appropriated $8 million to fund scientific instrumentation that will

be housed in the facility. 

“The energy sciences facility will

provide essential capabilities and a collaborative environment that leads to

accelerated scientific discovery,” said PNNL Director Steven Ashby in a news

release. “Breakthrough research conducted here may lead to reduced vehicle

emissions, more efficient fertilizer production, and the ability to turn waste

into fuels and products more efficiently and economically.”

Ashby said the building will be

designed to enhance regional research collaborations, including those with the

University of Washington and Washington State University.

The process to select a design

architect and builder began in May 2018 when a request for proposal was issued

for design and construction firms to bid on the project. Finalists were named

in late July and proposals were submitted in October. Interviews were

conducted in late 2018 as part of the selection process.    

Work in the energy sciences facility

will focus on fundamental research in advanced chemistry, materials science and

computing. Researchers will use their findings to develop more energy efficient

chemical processes and new materials for use in energy and transportation technologies,

among other innovations.

The energy sciences facility is part

of an ongoing campus strategy to construct, acquire, modernize and sustain

facilities and infrastructure to further enable core research and development

capabilities at PNNL.

As part of this strategy, PNNL

recently constructed:

• The systems engineering building,

which houses control rooms, testing platforms and laboratories used to address

grid modernization, buildings efficiency, renewable energy integration and

other energy challenges. 

• A 16,000-square-foot general purpose chemistry

laboratory to support a variety of programs and research.

• A 26,000-square-foot engineering and

analysis building that houses more than 100 PNNL staff initially engaged in

energy and national security research.

• Discovery Hall, a science and

technology collaboration event center that opened in April 2018.