University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Smithville Research Park – Labs 1 and 2 Renovations Details

Location: Smithville, TX

Tom Green and Company Engineers, Inc. was selected as the prime consultant for the Labs 1 and 2 Renovations project. TGCE’s team included architectural, structural, civil, and accessibility sub-consultants. At a $13,000,000 construction cost budget, the Labs 1 and 2 renovation project was originally envisioned as to be the full renovation of the buildings with state-of-the-art traditional and open laboratories with a full complement of shared support spaces (e.g., tissue culture rooms, equipment rooms, flex rooms, environmental rooms, dark rooms, and liquid nitrogen freezer rooms, offices, break rooms, restrooms with showers, etc.). One of the challenging elements of the project was to design a remedy for severe structural foundation issues due to expansive soils.

The TGCE team provided MEP, architectural, and structural engineering services up through schematic design. Somewhat expectedly, at the schematic design stage the project, it was confirmed that MDACC’s desired scope could not be met with the available budget, and the project was temporarily put on hold pending the Owner’s decision regarding scope and budget alignment.

In 2010, the project was reprogrammed by MDA and included a new construction budget of $5,600,000. To meet MDA scheduling requirements, the project was separated into three phases: Lab 1 West, Lab 2 West, Labs 1 and 2 Central. Phase 1 construction is complete. Phase 2 construction is nearing completion. Phase 3 design is commencing in March 2012.