New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory Construction Progress
- August 2007
- Site work begins at 3 Discovery Drive, the address of the future New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory.
- The NE-RBL—located on the campus of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University—is part of a 13-laboratory network dedicated to discovering new therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics for emerging infectious diseases.
- September 2007
- Blasting of sub-surface rock and ledge begins.
- October 2007
- Dean Deborah Kochevar holds a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction.
- Pictured from left to right are: Tufts University Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Barucha; Cummings School Division of Infectious Diseases Director Saul Tzipori; chair of the Town of Grafton's Board of Selectmen John Carlson; Dean Deborah Kochevar; Massachusetts State Representative George Peterson, Jr.; the laboratory's architect David Provencher, senior associate at Flad & Associates; and the project's contractor Jeffrey Schramm, Vice President of Gilbane Building Company.
- November 2007
- Contractors complete the concrete foundation and begin to erect the building's structural steel members.
- December 2007
- To commemorate the last piece of structural steel being lifted into place, the construction team holds a
Topping Out
ceremony. All in attendance get to sign the beam before it's put in place. - Pictured from left to right are: General Superintendant Pete Gagnon and Pat Reagen of Gilbane; Dean Deborah Kochevar; Jim Bussam of GilbaneCummings School Division of Infectious Diseases Director Saul Tzipori; Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow; Tufts Senior Project Manager Jack McDonald; and Andrew Prochniak of Gilbane.
