HOUSTON | MD Anderson South Campus Research Building 5 (SCRB 5) | 162 FT | 7 FLOORS
Project in brief: A 7-story research building is planned for the existing south campus of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The site for the structure is at Bertner Avenue and Old Spanish Trail / TMC Entrance 51.
The building is expected to be a mix of wet laboratory, office and lab support space, totaling 600KSF. Elkus Manfredi is the architect. The overall design of the building and site looks to play off of the adjacent TMC 3 project, of which the aforementioned firm is a design partner for. The overall height is due to the 40' mechanical penthouse planned for the structure. The main roofline would be 122' above ground.
Renderings and information from this thread on HAIF
Project Name:
MD Anderson South Campus Research Building 5
Project Number:
TABS2023015937
Facility Name:
MD Anderson South Campus Research Building 5
Location Address:
1920 Old Spanish Trail
Houston, TX 77054
Location County:
Harris
Start Date:
9/15/2023
Completion Date:
8/19/2027
Estimated Cost:
$389,657,206
Type of Work:
New Construction
Type of Funds:
This project involves public funds, public land, or is a Federally funded roadway project.
Scope of Work:
Ground up new construction of 7 story office/research science building for MD Anderson Cancer Center. Cast in place concrete frame with steel framed penthouse, high rise construction with automatic fire protection sprinkler system.
MD Anderson Cancer Center breaks ground on $668M project connected to new TMC campus
By Jishnu Nair – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Sep 20, 2023
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center broke ground Sept. 20 on a new research facility that will tie the institution to the Texas Medical Center’s new development.
Representing a $668 million investment, the 600,000-square-foot South Campus Research Building 5 will anchor MD Anderson’s south campus research park and will connect to TMC's 37-acre Helix Park, formerly known as TMC3. MD Anderson expects the SCRB5 facility, located at 1920 Old Spanish Trail, to be complete in spring 2026.
Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects designed a seven-story building, which will feature a landscaped park by Mikyoung Kim Design, also based in Boston. Houston-based Vaughn Construction is serving as general contractor on the project.
“With input from hundreds of MD Anderson teammates, we have carefully designed this building and our research campus to foster collaboration, to stimulate creativity and to fuel breakthroughs that will improve the lives of patients here and around the globe,” MD Anderson President Dr. Peter Pisters said in a press release.
How MD Anderson Cancer Center's new 600K-SF building was designed for collaborative research
By Jishnu Nair – Reporter, Houston Business Journal
Sep 21, 2023
As Houston life sciences organizations aim to make the Bayou City a hub for commercializing research, organizations are breaking ground on infrastructure projects intended to bring their talent closer together.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is no exception. On Sept. 20, the Houston-based cancer center broke ground on the 600,000-square-foot South Campus Research Park Building 5, intended to be an anchor for the institution’s south campus. The building is expected to be complete by spring 2026.
Dr. Philip Jones, MD Anderson's vice president of research strategy and operations, said the center’s goal was to concentrate research talent in one area. Jones told the Houston Business Journal during the groundbreaking event that 2,500 researchers would be located on the block.
“[We are] bringing people together, really enabling those spontaneous collisions, so they can brainstorm around ideas, discuss results and really have an impact,” Jones said.
The building’s construction is fueled by a $668 million investment largely coming from University of Texas hospital revenues. According to a UT document, the project was added to the system’s capital improvement plan in November of last year.
SCRB5 will feature connections to other projects emerging in Houston’s medical district. The seven-story building will connect to a new public health education and research building being developed concurrently by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, according to the UT document. SCRB5 will also include a pedestrian footbridge that connects to the first phase of the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park campus, which is set to open in late 2023.
While the bulk of the $668 million will go toward building SCRB5, including the equipment that researchers will use, Jones said other uses of the funds will bring in MD Anderson’s strategic research programs, such as its cancer neuroscience research program. MD Anderson also hopes to incubate startups that use the cancer center’s intellectual property within the building.
“Clinical care has always been a team sport,” Jones said. “For the last couple of decades, our research has become more and more collaborative. It really takes a small village.”
Dr. Peter Pisters, president of MD Anderson, also discussed the center’s need to move away from the spaces traditionally associated with clinical research. At the groundbreaking, Pisters said MD Anderson is designing SCRB5 for “100 years of use.”
“That means we’re migrating beyond things we’ve done in the past,” Pisters said. “If you go to some of our other research buildings, what you see are cinder blocks, fixed benches and tiny windows. And that won't work for the way that we do research today. It won't attract people from around the world to join our teams.”