Merrick & Company’s life sciences business unit will support the Bolivian National Service of Agricultural Health and Food Safety (SENASAG) with master planning, civil, architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and commissioning services for the future laboratory campus in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

The laboratory campus will strengthen the country’s research and diagnosis capacity for veterinary, phytosanitary, and food safety challenges. The new state-of-the-art facility will include five laboratory buildings for animal health, plant health, food safety, fruit fly research, and administration. The campus will also include space for future green houses, a sterile fly egg production plant, and a pesticide and fertilizer storage area. Merrick’s planning strategy focused on designing modular spaces that could be installed within a metal frame structure and a perimeter curtain wall envelope with columns outside of the laboratories. This approach meets SENASAG’s need for flexibility with future modifications and ensures quick construction—all while meeting international biosafety design standards.

Another priority was keeping energy consumption to a minimum. The Merrick team is providing subject matter expertise and support for sustainable design features such as a properly oriented, energy efficient building envelope, solar and wind energy, and photovoltaic glass technology on north-facing facades. Design is currently in progress and construction is scheduled for completion by October 2022.

SENASAG’s goal is to keep Bolivia free of foot-and-mouth disease, establish and maintain fruit-fly research areas, and develop new laboratory infrastructure that improves their technical capacity and epidemiological surveillance that will ultimately open markets for importing and exporting agricultural products.

Working with science and technology clients globally, Merrick’s services include program management, planning, design, commissioning, training, and operational support for highly complex laboratories and science facilities around the world.

Merrick & Company (www.merrick.com), an engineering, architecture, and geospatial solutions firm, serves domestic and international clients in the energy & chemicals, national security, life sciences, and sustainable infrastructure markets. The employee-owned company maintains offices in the US, Canada, Guam, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

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