Research & Development

Lewis Contractors was the Construction Manager on this new Health Science Building on the campus of Howard Community College. The new building is 113,000 SF and is the college’s first LEED Gold Certified project. Lewis collaborated with the prime architect to provide teaching skills laboratory design and layout, interior building component design, BIM support, and CD support services.

The building accommodates the growing nursing and allied health programs, and includes many skills labs and simulation rooms. The skills labs train paramedics, nurses, radiology technologists, dental hygienists, cardiovascular technologists, medical technologists, and physical therapists. Other functional spaces include departmental faculty and staff offices, classrooms, study spaces, and a 150-seat tiered lecture hall.

The building was fully designed utilizing Building Information Modeling software, REVIT.

The Optics Laboratory project involved renovations to an existing office space to create a new optics laboratory with three certified cleanrooms. Work was completed for a confidential client located in Baltimore. All work was performed amid an occupied scientific research facility with highly secure operations occurring in spaces directly adjacent to the work site. It should be noted that this project was performed in adherence to the client’s confidentiality agreement—a policy that required the utmost discretion of our project team and subcontractors. All personnel were subject to background checks and security checks and were required an escort to travel through the facility to and from the project site.

Lewis Contractors completed the interior renovation of office and conference spaces for a confidential optics research laboratory. Work involved high end finishes and modifications of MEP systems. All work for this project was completed adjacent to a highly critical data center; therefore, temporary partitions were installed and extreme care had to be taken to ensure no foreign objects or debris interfered with the center’s operations.

Work on this Service Support Facility entailed the construction of a new service complex, composed of three buildings and a fuel station.

A storage building and an office/research building were metal-building construction. A third building was a conventional steel frame structure with wall-bearing CMU and a brick veneer. All work was completed at an occupied, secured facility.

The Bressler Research Building (BRB) is a major research facility for the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine. This project involved the renovation of the 21,000 SF 7th floor to provide efficient flexible research, office, and conference room space for the School of Medicine. Research facilities consist of modular lab and lab support spaces, including both ‘hard wall’ and ‘open’ labs. Office and meeting facilities house research offices, a conference room, a meeting room/library, and support spaces. Components of the floor include core functions, telecom and electrical rooms, elevators and stairs. The project modernized the mechanical, electrical, fire protection and telecommunications distribution throughout the renovated areas.

This project involved the first three floors of the General Research Building at UMB to provide new research lab, lab support, office, and administrative support facilities for the School of Medicine. Research in these spaces consists of modular lab and lab support spaces, including both ‘hard wall’ and ‘open’ labs. In addition, 180 SF of the 2nd floor was converted to an animal holding room. The project modernized the mechanical, electrical, fire protection and telecommunications throughout the renovated areas. Systems were upgraded as required by the new functions, as required by code and University standards, and to support ongoing building upgrade projects. In addition, the building envelope required upgrades to meet current University standards. A new electric room was created in the basement along with a new autoclave room. In the penthouse and on the roof a new chiller, cooling tower, exhaust fans, and a new boiler were installed.

This project was a $1M comprehensive renovation at the 7th floor of the School of Nursing for the University of Maryland, Baltimore. It involved selective demolition, installation of laboratory casework, signage, new window treatments, and upgrades to existing plumbing, HVAC sprinkler, electrical and voice/data connections. All work was completed in and around an occupied academic building with ongoing administrative functions.

The new R.V. Truitt Building at University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Chesapeake Biological Laboratory is a two-story, 30,000-square-foot biological seawater research building located in Solomons, Maryland. The facility consists of five seawater labs, four research labs, seven environmental rooms and supporting offices and conference rooms. In addition to the laboratory building, the project included the construction of a new pump house containing the seawater filtration system, conditioning equipment, and distribution pumps which distribute seawater to the R.V. Truitt building. Work also included site and utility improvements, storm water management, and landscaping.

This facility complements the existing facilities on campus by providing necessary laboratories, offices and modular wet laboratories for research work. The State of Maryland is taking a leading role in supporting climate change and environmental sustainability research, and this research facility fills a unique and critical role in the State’s efforts.