Superior Site Selection
Hudson and McMillian developed a unique three-fold mission when they established HudsonAlpha and the building’s design is unique as well. The flagship HudsonAlpha facility features 270,000 square feet of world-class, state-of-the-art laboratory and office space. The lab spaces are built to the National Institute of Health standards for biosafety, with single pass air and emergency power. A newly opened 88,000-square-foot building provides additional space to biotech companies of various sizes. The building officially opened in the fall of 2013 with the expansion of an original HudsonAlpha resident associate company. The Institute also has a LEED certified location, recognizing it as best-in-class for building strategies and practices. New construction on the campus is also available.
Cummings Research Park
Photo: biotech location
The 152 acre HudsonAlpha Biotechnology campus is located in Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the U.S. What started as an idea in the 1960s has grown to the fourth largest research park in the world and is home to more than 300 companies and 25,000 employees. Cummings Research Park co-locates Fortune 500 companies with local and international business specializing in a range of high-tech industries, from aerospace and defense, to hardware and software development, to engineering, research and development, with the goal of transforming research into business success. The HudsonAlpha campus is minutes from the Port of Huntsville (Huntsville International Airport and International Intermodal Center) and convenient to I-565, I-65 and the Tennessee River Waterway system.
Fertile Ground
Photo: fertileground
Utilizing the toolbox of solutions present in living organisms, biotechnology helps meet these pressing needs, and HudsonAlpha provides fertile ground for several economic development models based on the innovations that accompany these breakthroughs. The Institute is ideally positioned for growing start-up and early stage companies, as well as for relocating or expanding established companies from outside the Madison County region.
Lab Space
Photo: lab space
All labs are built to specifications for NIH-approved biosafety level 2, and a limited number of labs are rated for biosafety level 3. As space is continued to be built out, HudsonAlpha can accommodate specific requests for optimal space.
Each laboratory is designed to operate negative with respect to the corridor to protect occupants outside of the laboratories. Each floor of the facility is equipped with a building pressurization control that ensures that the floor remains positive to the exterior and helps the building avoid drafts that plague other laboratory buildings.
The support labs can be alternated from positive pressurization to negative to accommodate the different function being performed in each of the support labs.
Each receptacle is on a dedicated circuit which allows flexibility in location of larger
equipment. About one-fourth to one-third of the outlets are 208-volt receptacles to
accommodate the high concentration of freezers typically used. Each office is on a dedicated circuit allowing independent operation from other occupants’ loads.
HudsonAlpha has freezer farm space to accommodate up to 216 minus-80 degree units. HudsonAlpha is now caretaker to the IMAGE Consortium clone library previously housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Library. In addition to housing the DNA clones, which include the NIH Mammalian Gene Collection, HudsonAlpha is responsible for maintaining and updating the public access database.
Air Quality
The outside air and re-circulated air systems are grouped together to provide back-up and redundancy for the air handling units to provide for minimal interruptions during servicing. This has a secondary benefit for occupants in that occupants in the office portions of the facility will receive fresh air that exceeds code-mandated minimums.
Vivarium
A small vivarium facility is designed following NIH guidelines. The vivarium suite contains three animal holding rooms for rodents, two procedure rooms and a cage wash facility. The exhaust fans for the vivarium facility are on emergency power to maintain the space negative even during power outages.
Security
Configurable security system (software drive) to accommodate limited access. 24/7 security personnel on-site. Magnetic locks, proximity badge readers and indoor/outdoor closed circuit video monitoring are all a part of the HudsonAlpha building.
Meeting Rooms and Common Space
The institute features numerous small and medium sized conference rooms as well as a library and auditorium. High definition video conferencing is available to connect staff with associates working in other locations. A lab classroom is outfitted for distance education programs to originate from the institute. Associate companies have access to these areas at no additional cost.
Facility Maintenance/Custodial
Facilities management
Janitorial services
Recycling station on every floor
Material management
Centralized purchasing of supplies, materials, services and freight
Centralized shipping and receiving
*all of which are provided to associate companies at no additional cost
Atrium
photo of atrium
A spectacular atrium, made primarlily of wood and glass, offers an inviting space for institute and resident company personnel to share ideas and information. Promoting a free-flow of communication was integral to the building’s design, and offices facing the atrium are glass-walled, further supporting the high-tech, high-touch character.
Café
photo of cafeteria
Just off the atrium is the HudsonAlpha cafe, offering a variety of healthy dining choices for breakfast, lunch or coffee breaks. Starbucks coffee, dining specials, pick-up-and-go, soup-and-salad bar and cooked-to-order selections are available daily. The cafe is open to the public and a great place to welcome colleagues for an informal meeting over lunch.