Sparkle Life
Morrisville, NC
Merit Award
Sent by: Brasfield and Gorrie
Owner: Trinity Capital Advisors
Main design company: Hanbury
General contractor: Brasfield and Gorrie
Civil Engineer: Kimley Horn
Landscape architect: Surface 678
Seven buildings are the first of a multi-phase project providing high-quality laboratory and bio-manufacturing space for the life sciences sector. But the project team had to design and build the facility without knowing its future tenants. This made flexibility critical in this $166 million design-aid project to ensure coordination of building systems and infrastructure across all structures. Spanning 97 acres, the campus is home to more than 750,000 square meters of building space, along with a 966-space parking deck and a variety of outdoor meeting spaces. The permit added another layer of complexity because projects of this size are rare in Morrisville. To keep approvals aligned with construction, the team stayed in close contact with city officials throughout the duration of the project.
With more than 33 miles of underground services crossing the campus, avoiding strikes was critical. Brasfield & Gorrie used a hydrovac process to expose utilities prior to excavation and implemented a digital whiteboard system, creating a GPS-based live map of underground conditions that allowed crews to plan work with a clear picture of what lay below.
