A joint venture of three leading Canadian design firms has been awarded a contract worth as much as $100 million to renew government research facilities across the country.

FRAMEWORK is a joint venture that consists of Stantec, Merrick and Dialog. In December, the group was chosen to develop laboratory standards, functional programming, and concept designs for federal research and laboratory facilities over the next five years.

“As a global leader committed to sustainable design that positively impacts the communities around us, this transformational program allows our team to support the evolution of science for the next generation,” said Leonard Castro, Stantec’s executive vice president for buildings. “This team of design partners has previously collaborated on 25 projects and brings an extensive pool of resources to achieve Canada’s goals.”

The contract includes a series of projects to be initiated under the government’s $2.8-billion commitment to launch the first phase of Laboratories Canada, an enterprise-wide portfolio approach to strengthen federal science in Canada. The effort involves innovative delivery models to renew aging science infrastructure and create a modern platform to support sustainable scientific and research program delivery.

“As a team, we commit to harvesting knowledge from around the globe to bring to the design of Canadian laboratories, and to share with the world the state-of-the-art in lab design as part of the project,” said Jeff DiBattista, practice principal with Dialog. “And we commit to keeping people first, creating lab environments that serve and enable our scientists to practice at the leading edge in service of all Canadians.”

The scope of work includes the development of state-of-the-art science infrastructure solutions that can meet today’s science program needs and can be quickly adapted and expanded to support future programs and priorities.

“Science laboratories of the future will be designed by FRAMEWORK based on the past and present successes with advanced focus on digital transformation, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and human collaboration in sciences to improve the health of our world and protecting its resources,” said Paul Langevin, lab design specialist/technical engineering lead with Merrick. “Adaptive, flexible, attractive and sustainable laboratory solutions will be integrated across the country to ensure Canada’s global reputation and competitive advantage will be enhanced.”

Laboratories Canada is a 25-year strategy that will deliver on its vision to strengthen federal science in Canada. Budget 2018 launched the first phase of this strategy with an investment of $2.8 billion to support federal scientists with the important work they do for Canada.

The strategy signals a forward-looking approach to science planning by fostering innovation and collaboration in world-class facilities. The renewed facilities will house modern laboratories and collaborative spaces enabled with information technology tailored to meet the needs of federal scientists, as well as being environmentally sustainable and accessible.

The strategy will increase the government’s ability to attract a diverse range of talented scientists to work alongside federal leaders, while ensuring the government remains at the cutting edge of research and regulatory enforcement. It will also spark innovative ways of doing research, drive economic growth and deliver real results for Canadians.