IARC construction contract awarded for main building

As envisioned, the Illinois Accelerator Research Center will provide approximately 83,000 square feet of technical, office and classroom space for scientists and industrial partners.

On March 21, Fermilab awarded the Office, Technical and Education building construction contract for the Illinois Accelerator Research Center to Barton Malow, a national construction company with offices in Chicago. Construction will begin this month.

"Barton Malow is clearly qualified and offered the most competitive package of the contractors who responded," said Bob Kephart, the IARC program director. "Fermilab has worked with them recently on several ARRA funded projects, such as the Cryomodule Testing Facility and NML tunnel extension, and we were happy with the results.

Construction of the Illinois State funded 47,000 square foot OTE building is the next step in the long process of planning, designing, approving and developing of the IARC physical plant.

"I worked closely with a FESS team led by architect Rhonda Merchut and with the A&E firm Ross Barney Architects to arrive at the conceptual design for IARC," Kephart said. "Construction of the building is the last piece of the puzzle. The effort leading up to a successful award of the IARC OTE Building construction contract was a real team effort involving FESS, BSS, Finance, Legal and the Directorate."

As the construction on IARC commences, additional challenges remain as the CDF experimental equipment is removed by a team led by Johnathan Lewis from PPD. However, the largest challenge remains, namely, crafting a successful program for IARC, an effort which is currently deep in the planning stages.

Despite the future challenges of launching the IARC program, Kephart and FESS are excited to begin construction the IARC OTE building c with the contractor they've chosen.

"All you need to do is look at the buildings Barton Malow has constructed at Fermilab and you can see they do quality work," Kephart said. "The construction will begin in May. Soon we are all going to see a lot of activity at the site."

The construction on the IARC OTE building is expected to be completed in fall of 2013, and current planners envision the IARC program starting in 2014.

—Sarah Charley