AROUND THE LAB
The Current Status of the LLE Office and Laboratory Building Expansion
“LLE’s work in high-energy-density science continues to grow with each new year, and now their physical footprint is catching up. The addition of these state-of-the-art facilities helps strengthen LLE’s designation as one of the leading laser laboratories in the world and will provide space to support its expanding research agenda.”
-Sarah Mangelsdorf,
University of Rochester President
Above left: Groundbreaking for the new Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) Office and Laboratory Expansion 17 August 2022. Distinguished attendees are shown from left to right: Senior Associate Vice President for Facilities and Services, Michael Chihoski; Provost, David Figlio; Brighton Town Supervisor, Bill Moehle; New York State Senator, Jeremy Cooney; Executive Vice President of Administration and Finance and CFO, Elizabeth Milavec; University Trustee, Larry Kessler; University Trustee, Wayne LeChase; New York State Representative, Sarah Clark; LLE Director, Chris Deeney; University of Rochester President, Sarah Mangelsdorf; U.S. Congressman, Joe Morelle; Jarred Jones, Deputy State Director for U.S. Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand; Kevin Hale, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and Interim Vice President for Research, Stephen Dewhurst. Artist rendition of new building is shown above right.
On August 17, 2022, the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics broke ground on a $42 million, 66,000-square-foot office and laboratory building expansion. The new expansion connects directly to LLE’s existing building on East River Road in Brighton, New York. The new three-floor building will house office and advanced laboratory space for approximately 110 scientists and engineers, including a class-1000 target fabrication lab, a thin-film coating lab, a laser computing facility, and several other wet-lab and general lab workspaces. The largest laboratory will house the AMICA Laser System—a state-of-the-art high-energy, long-pulse laser that LLE scientists are assembling for Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Matter at Extreme Condition Upgrade (MEC-U).
Initial planning work for the project began in 2019, which culminated in January 2020 with the University of Rochester’s Board of Trustees Committee on Facilities approval of a contract for the design of the addition at a cost of $3,538,700. Design work kicked off in November 2020 and was completed in March 2022. LeChase Construction Services, LLC began construction of the expansion project on 5 July 2022. It has made rapid progress in the ensuing months including, site clearing, grading, installation of building utilities, casting of all concrete foundations, erection of the steel superstructure, and installation of the roof decking. To facilitate winter work, the building was wrapped in a white, heat-shrink plastic barrier that helped keep the elements out and heat in (shown below, left). The interior spaces were heated to permit the pouring of concrete floors in freezing weather. A cement truck and the concrete pump truck with a white articulated arm can be seen just to the right of the white-wrapped building. The pump truck moves the cement into all levels of the building. It is attached to a small machine called the Red Line Dragon (concrete placer and dragger) (shown below, right), which moves through the project, distributing the cement where needed while dragging the large 6-in. black supply from the pump truck behind it. The floors cured for a week before other construction activities could commence.
“LLE leadership is impressed with the great work by the construction teams and deeply appreciative of the LLE team supporting the activities,” said Chris Deeney, adding, “LLE staff continue to exhibit great patience and professionalism in dealing with the inconveniences during construction. Their immediate raising of safety concerns related to dust, noise, and traffic is helping the whole team keep the workers on site and LLE team safe.
All major concrete work (floors, roofs, and stairs) was completed in early March 2023. All three floors of the building are now being actively worked by the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection workers simultaneously. A high degree of coordination is required between the various workers to ensure a smooth construction process. This is accomplished through the generation of a 3-D building integrated model (BIM). Each specialized group of workers, or trades, is responsible for constructing a physical model of all the equipment that they intend to install into the building. The general contractor (GC) then integrates all of these individual models from the different trades into a single comprehensive building model. The BIM software then performs a clash detection survey to identify if any intended equipment conflicts with any other equipment trying to occupy the same space in the building. The clashes are effectively managed by the GC and the specific trade groups to result in a clash-free model. The complete model of all equipment locations can then be surveyed into the building with physical tolerances of the order of 1/16 of an inch.
Above left: An automatic level mounted to a tripod positioned at roof height being used with range poles demonstrates a piece of surveying equipment responsible for ensuring accuracy.
The next significant milestones for the building include the installation of the roof and the external building walls in the April–May time frame. The project is currently on budget and, thanks to a favorable fall and early winter construction season, is on track for a March 17, 2024 completion.
Shown above is the continued progress being made inside of the new office and laboratory building expansion, including the installation of ventilation ducts (left) and metal stud framing on the second floor (right).