Legislature provides funding for RRF

Photos by Ester Fant

By the numbers:

$80.53 million to build
208,500 gross square feet of space
16,568 cubic yards of concrete
went into the structural frame
1,095 tons (2,190,000 lbs) of rebar
went into the structural frame
876 days of construction process
21,024 hours of construction process
1,261,024 minutes of construction process
75,686,400 seconds of construction process
~500 construction workers worked/working on the project
6 stories
4 areas of research focus
1 year ago - Groundbreaking ceremony of the
Replacement Research Facility held

Meeting in Arlington Aug. 10, the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System allocated $18 million to support ongoing construction of the Replacement Research Facility at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

The six-story research building at Fannin Street and John Freeman Boulevard in the Texas Medical Center should be ready for occupancy by fall 2007. The total cost of $80.53 million is being met with state dollars and funding from a variety of sources - including philanthropic gifts, tuition revenue bonds from the Legislature, two National Institutes of Health grants, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, and insurance payments from Tropical Storm Allison losses.

"We are delighted that the UT System Board of Regents, in providing these funds, continues to nurture our research mission and the training of scientists and clinical investigators of the future," said Jerry S. Wolinsky, M.D., interim dean of the UT Medical School at Houston. "The new building will give us a state-of-the-art animal care facility and four floors of critical environments for attracting new scientists and strengthening our current expertise in basic and translational research, where multiple emerging areas of knowledge will improve the lives of Texans and the larger international community for generations to come."

--David Bates