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Progress toward consolidated West Virginia laboratory continues

The Joint Standing Committee on Health listens to a presentation Tuesday on progress on West Virginia’s Consolidated State Laboratories Facility on the final day of legislative interim meetings at Stonewall Resort in Lewis County. (Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — The effort to construct a building to consolidate the laboratory functions of most West Virginia departments and agencies continues apace, with a 2028 tentative grand opening.

Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Health received a briefing Tuesday morning by representatives of ZMM Architects and Engineers and the state General Services Division on the Consolidated State Laboratories Facility project on the final day of June interim meetings at Stonewall Resort in Lewis County.

Ground was broken in April 2024 on the Consolidated State Laboratories Facility at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston. The Legislature appropriated funding for the project in two tranches totaling $250 million for a new 288,000 square foot building to hold nearly all laboratory services managed by the state.

“Since the inception of the project, the Department of Administration has sort of taken the lead role as coordinator of all the stakeholders,” said Robert Kilpatrick, director of the General Services Division. “In the end, this building will be a Department of Administration-owned building, and the General Services Division will manage it, much like we manage the Capitol.”

Agencies that will be part of the consolidated facility include the Department of Health’s Office of Laboratory Services, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Division of Labor’s weights and measure inspection office, and the West Virginia State Police forensics laboratory. Both Marshall University and West Virginia University will be tenants in the new facility.

Only laboratory services through the state Department of Agriculture will not be included. That laboratory will be going to the campus of West Virginia State University in Institute.

ZMM is the primary design firm, providing project management and coordination with the multiple design teams and specialty consultants for the project, providing the General Services Division a single point of contact as the project moves along.

“It is a complex project, with a multitude of folks involved,” said Jen Wood, chief marketing officer for ZMM. “We wanted to make sure that all of the parties involved were able to provide insight into this project, to make sure that we get it right. There’s more than 100 people among small groups that have been engaged, providing insight and expertise for this project.”

The project has been in the design phase for the last 15 months, with the design contract being awarded in January 2024, though with 95% of the contract documents submitted to the General Services Division, most of the design phase is complete with the project getting ready to head into the bidding and construction phases.

The proposed timeline for the project has construction beginning in February 2026, with construction taking approximately 24 months. The facility could be open sometime in the summer of 2028.

Regarding potential delays, the project team asserted that despite initial projections, the current schedule remains expedited, with no surprises expected when crews begin moving dirt.

“We spent 16 months getting rid of a lot of the unknowns,” Kilpatrick said. “We’re on a flat site. We’re not expecting and we’re not going to uncover hazardous materials. We’re not going to run into other delays where a contractor could file claim against us for delay.”

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