Construction Advances on the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing

AUSTIN, Texas - March 26, 2014 - PRLog -- The Beck Group is serving as both architect-of-record and general contractor on multiple facilities for the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) in Bryan-College Station, Texas. The Beck led design-build team has completed design and been issued a Notice to Proceed on a $64 million influenza-vaccine manufacturing facility.

Founded on a $285.6 million public-private partnership, the Texas A&M CIADM was created in conjunction with the US Department of Health and Human Services and BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency), the State of Texas, the Texas A&M University System and private partners. The facility is designed to enhance the nation’s ability to respond to emerging infectious diseases, including pandemic influenza and other chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats with vaccines and countermeasures manufactured in the United States. The CIADM is one of only three national centers in the country, and is the only center led by an academic institution.

“Our initial project, the $8 million retrofit to the National Center for Therapeutic Manufacturing (NCTM) is almost complete and has been a huge success. It will allow the NCTM and Kalon BioTherapeutics to expand their work in Phase 1 and 2 clinical vaccine development and provides greater flexibility for additional therapeutics manufacturing, including cancer drugs,” said Steve Springer, Director of Beck’s Life Sciences division.

“We are very excited to now be starting construction on the second of the three projects in the CIADM development. The $64 million Pandemic Influenza Facility will produce seasonal influenza vaccine, as well as be poised to produce emergency response pandemic influenza vaccine in response to requests from the US government,” said Springer. “We are honored to work with the Texas A&M University System and the Texas A&M Health Science Center on these important projects. Beck shares a commitment to collaboration and innovation, and we are proud to be of service in the important cause of U.S. public health.”

Once constructed and fully operational, the new manufacturing facility will be able to supply 50 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccine within four months of an outbreak, with the first doses supplied within 12 weeks.

A third project is scheduled to be formalized in the second quarter of 2014, and started in early summer. Representing the largest commitment of a global biopharmaceutical company to partner within Texas, the CIADM places the Texas A&M University System and the Texas A&M Health Science Center as an international leader in biosecurity.

About Beck

Founded in 1912, The Beck Group offers a full spectrum of commercial professional services including development, planning, architecture, interior design, construction and sustainability consulting. The company is headquartered in Dallas and maintains a national team of more than 500 employees, 40 percent of whom are LEED®APs and who work among a network of offices in Atlanta, Austin, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Mexico City, San Antonio and Tampa. The firm’s research facility projects in recent years have included The University of South Florida Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) in Tampa, Florida, The University of Texas at Austin Norman Hackerman Building; GreenVax plant based vaccine production facility in Bryan, Texas; and the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative in Waco, Texas. For more information, visit www.beckgroup.com.