Spotlight 3: Sherman Center Takes Shape
Photo/Courtesy
HEALTHY CONSTRUCTION: UMass Medical School's new Albert Sherman Center on Plantation Street in Worcester is on schedule despite the winter weather.
Just off Plantation Street, partially buried in snow, the steel skeleton of the $405-million Albert “Albie” Sherman Center is starting to take shape.
The perseverance of the welders and others working on site in recent freezing cold temperatures could be a metaphor for the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s determination to further boost its profile as a leader in clinical and basic research. The school will double its research capacity with the completion of the Sherman Center.
“It’s very gratifying seeing that steel flying up into the sky,” said Dr. Terence Flotte, dean of the medical school. “This cements Worcester’s place as a real biotechnology and biomedical research leader.”
Snow has caused some delays, but the center is still on track for completion at the end of 2012, reported John Baker, UMass Medical School’s associate vice chancellor of facilities.
Cutting Edge
UMass officials say that the 512,000-square-foot building will position the Worcester campus as a leader in the fields of medical research and education and will encourage collaboration among scientists, students and the life sciences industry in its labs. Those scientists will be working with genetics and stem-cell technology to find cures for deadly and life-altering diseases.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center committed $90 million to the project. The Sherman Center is expected to generate $264 million in annual economic activity in Massachusetts when complete.
Construction work began in September 2009 and the first of the steel beams were installed in late December. Workers had placed nearly 15 percent of the beams as of the end of January, according to a blog about the project on the medical school’s website.
Workers were blasting with dynamite on Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 to lay the groundwork for a tunnel that will connect the center with the medical school.
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