More than two-thirds of U.S. households own at least one pet, and more than half own dogs. The American Pet Association estimates that Americans spent a record $99 billion on pet-related expenses in 2020, from food and toys to vet services. The animal care sector is big business that at least one AEC firm has been tapping into for a while.
CRB, headquartered in the heart of the so-called animal health corridor in Kansas City, Mo., has cultivated a specialty for working on biotech facilities that focus on the animal world. In that capacity, CRB has collaborated with a several other AEC firms, such as ESG and Power Construction on Fulton Labs, a life sciences campus in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood. The campus hosts 724,714 rentable sf of dedicated lab and office space with an additional 57,000 sf of top-tier amenity space including a community garden, wellness center and stunning rooftop lounge.
Eric Danielson, CRB’s Director of Business Development, says that growth in this industry sector is coming from several directions that include the post-COVID study of monoclonal antibodies in animals. He adds that there’s also a lot of interest in gene and cell therapies, especially for companion pets. And on the food side, manufacturers are exploring “fresher options” that consumers are demanding and are willing to spend more on. These include alternative protein food types and products that can be sold less expensively at retail.
Danielson says his company is seeing more manufacturers take a holistic approach to animal health by, for example, getting into food products with pharmaceutical elements embedded into the ingredients.
CRB provided design services for this new 96,000-sf animal health biological production facility used to manufacture aerobe bacterins and viral antigens.
MULTIPLE REGULATORY BODIES
Animal care is a highly regulated business that, in the U.S., is overseen by the Food & Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. CRB has also worked for clients in Europe, South America, and Asia, each with its own rules and regs. So a big part of CRB’s job, says Danielson, is to make sure that its clients’ projects adhere to their markets’ regulatory requirements.
CRB relies mightily on reality capture, through BIM and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) to, in Danielson’s words, “provide a digital understanding of the design for the day-to-day user.” These tools also reduced the need for physical on-site visits during the coronavirus pandemic, and are getting clients’ projects up and running faster at a time when speed to market is a critical competitive component.
IPD PRACTITIONER
A CRB employee on-site during the construction phase of a ONEsolution project for a major global animal health company.
To that end, within the past year CRB has rolled out SlateXpace, a platformed modular solution, primarily for multimodal facilities, whose plug-and-play components can be deployed without needing to shut down other parts of the building. “It reduces down time,” says Danielson. (A short video that illustrates how this works can be viewed here.)
CRB is also a proponent of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) through its ONEsolution approach that brings together the company’s team of designers, engineers, and other experts to control quality, cost, and scheduling by focusing on lean project delivery based on core principles that optimize the client’s capital investment through improved execution, with shared risks and rewards.
Danielson—whose 20-plus years in the AEC space included stints with J.E. Dunn and as a municipal planner—says that his firm strives to avoid “falling into the trap of repeating the same production design standards. This limits innovation.” It is also always looking for ways to eliminate steps for a project to achieve regulatory compliance.
With regard to innovation and fresh thinking, a few weeks ago CRB elected four new members to its Board of Directors, three of whom are from outside the company, its first election of external members. "Together, their insights and fresh perspectives will challenge and strengthen us, resulting in continued high value for our clients and rewarding experiences for our employees," said Ryan Schroeder, CRB’s President.
The outside board members include Tim Hannan, Executive Vice President and CFO of New-Press & Gazette Company; Sandy Price, a retired Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Sprint; and Bob Uhler, a philanthropist and former Chairman of Great Lakes Dredge and Dock.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
AECOM, Arup, Gensler most active in commercial building design, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 100 Commercial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Payette completes Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute
Payette, a leading architectural design firm specializing in complex buildings for medical and scientific research, academic teaching, and healthcare, announced today the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony was held on June 26, 2009. The new 176,000 square foot Cancer Institute is located on the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Campus in University Park, Pa.
| Aug 11, 2010
Perkins+Will master plans Vedanta University teaching hospital in India
Working together with the Anil Agarwal Foundation, Perkins+Will developed the master plan for the Medical Precinct of a new teaching hospital in a remote section of Puri, Orissa, India. The hospital is part of an ambitious plan to develop this rural area into a global center of education and healthcare that would be on par with Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.
| Aug 11, 2010
Turner Building Cost Index dips nearly 4% in second quarter 2009
Turner Construction Company announced that the second quarter 2009 Turner Building Cost Index, which measures nonresidential building construction costs in the U.S., has decreased 3.35% from the first quarter 2009 and is 8.92% lower than its peak in the second quarter of 2008. The Turner Building Cost Index number for second quarter 2009 is 837.
| Aug 11, 2010
AGC unveils comprehensive plan to revive the construction industry
The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a new plan today designed to revive the nation’s construction industry. The plan, “Build Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth,” is designed to reverse predictions that construction activity will continue to shrink through 2010, crippling broader economic growth.
| Aug 11, 2010
PCL Construction, HITT Contracting among nation's largest commercial building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Commercial Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Webcor, Hunt Construction lead the way in mixed-use construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 30 Mixed-Use Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Report: Fraud levels fall for construction industry, but companies still losing $6.4 million on average
The global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry saw a significant decline in fraud activity with companies losing an average of $6.4 million over the last three years, according to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, released today at the Association of Corporate Counsel’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Boston. This new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million.