GLOUCESTER — Construction is nearing completion on a new research facility at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, with students and staff expected to start moving in later this fall.
The new building, located at 1370 Greate Road adjacent to the Coleman Bridge, will replace Chesapeake Bay Hall. That research center, built in 1997, and its equipment have become outdated.
Architects from Baskervill, who designed the new state-of-the-art facility, gave a hard hat tour of the building on July 31, with more than 20 individuals in attendance. Baskervill was first tasked with designing the new facility in 2019, though the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted plans.
The new 68,250-square-foot facility, which does not yet have a name, will feature both wet and dry labs, faculty offices, collaborative spaces and conference rooms, as well as a small café and two balconies. The building houses more than 70 labs to support research in 15 different kinds of sciences in VIMS’ Coastal & Ocean Processes, Ecosystem Health/Center for Coastal Resources Management and Natural Resources/MAP/Adaption, Biodiversity, Carbon programs.
“This will be a huge resource for VIMS,” said Jay Woodburn, principal architect of the project. “We are excited. I think it will be a success.”
Keeping in line with sustainability efforts at VIMS, the project is targeted to achieve LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Rebecca Latourell, senior director of communications and marketing for VIMS.
“The building includes smart lab technology, a rooftop wind turbine and EV charging stations, among other sustainable features,” she said. “The research labs will house a variety of high-tech equipment, including DNA analyzers, gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, spectrophotometers, flow cytometer, and an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope with the imaging capabilities of a scanning electron microscope. Use of these instruments allows our researchers to analyze contaminants known to cause adverse effects to marine organisms even at ultra-low concentrations.”
Students and staff are slated to start occupying the three-story facility, which was built over a parking lot, in the coming weeks if all goes according to plan.
“We anticipate faculty, students and staff will start moving into the building in early fall, on target with our timeline,” Latourell said. “Faculty at William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences at VIMS who started within the last year will establish new labs in the building, once complete. For example, assistant professor Meredith Seeley, who studies the sources, fate and effects of pollutants in marine and aquatic environments, including plastics, petroleum, synthetic industrial compounds and more, will establish her lab in the new building.”
VIMS’ former research facility, Chesapeake Bay Hall, located across the street from the new building, will be demolished, though a timeline has not been set yet for that. Chesapeake Bay Hall “is no longer sufficient to meet the requirements for how research is conducted today,” Latourell said.
“The new facility will allow our researchers to continue to pursue research and research-funding opportunities at the local, state, and national levels,” Latourell said. “We look forward to enhancing our research with new, state-of-the-art labs and collaborative spaces.”
Brandy Centolanza, bcentolanza@cox.net
