Skanska Advances $350M UVA Biotech Facility as Data Center Boom Squeezes Trades
Skanska is targeting 2027 completion of the University of Virginia’s $350 million Manning Institute of Biotechnology, a 354,000-sq-ft research facility whose scope and trade procurement have been shaped by competition with Virginia’s data center construction surge, ENR reports.
Scope Grew, Trade Sourcing Went Regional
The five-story facility, backed by a donation from health care entrepreneur Paul Manning along with university and state funding, broke ground in October 2023 after more than a year of planning between UVA, architect Elkus Manfredi Architects and construction manager at-risk Skanska. UVA Project Director Mashal Hartman says the original smaller concept expanded during predesign as Virginia’s data center sector drove up costs and made MEP trade labor scarce. “We felt we had this one shot to make it a dense and different facility,” Hartman says.
The MEP package alone totals more than $120 million. Skanska project executive Matt Kidwell says the team reached beyond Virginia for electrical subcontractors, talking to firms in Boston, Florida and Atlanta to secure competitive bids and right-sized trade partners. Long-lead equipment posed its own challenge: the building’s 2-kilowatt generator carried a two-year wait, and custom air handlers took nearly a year, pushing Skanska to release those procurement packages early. UVA also used its state sales tax exemption to directly purchase major building system components, lab casework and equipment, a move Hartman says has saved significant money.
Site work included a nearly 30-ft retaining wall to extend the site 35 ft horizontally for the 62,000-sq-ft L-shaped footprint, plus relocation of one of Charlottesville’s primary raw water mains. Additional soil borings pushed the rock excavation estimate from 8,000 cu yd to 30,000 cu yd within a 50,000-cu-yd mass excavation, and blasting near occupied medical and research buildings required town hall meetings that drew more than 1,000 participants. The structure topped off in October 2025 with nearly 13,300 cu yd of concrete and more than 3,700 tons of structural steel. Only about half the building will be fit out at opening, with remaining floors shelled for future biotech uses including regulated clean rooms for pharmaceutical production.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Electrical and MEP subcontractors outside Virginia, including firms in Boston, Florida and Atlanta, are already part of Skanska’s trade base for this job; out-of-state design-assist electrical and mechanical firms should expect continued competition for similar Virginia biotech and lab projects tied to the data center boom.
- Long-lead equipment packages (generators, custom air handlers) were released far ahead of final design on this project, a signal that GCs on comparable Virginia lab builds may issue early trade packages for HVAC and electrical equipment well before design completion, rewarding subs who can commit early.
- Site/civil contractors should note the site-enabling package here was bid roughly 19 months ahead of final design and ballooned from an 8,000-cu-yd to 30,000-cu-yd rock excavation estimate; bidders on similar research-park sites with unknown subsurface conditions should budget contingency for expanded blasting and excavation scope.
- Interior trades including ductwork, electrical conduit and epoxy-finish wall installers should expect BIM-heavy coordination requirements: this project logged 717,583 lb of ductwork and more than 96 miles of conduit routed through concrete masonry unit walls within a 9-ft interstitial space, meaning subs on comparable lab fit-outs need strong BIM coordination capacity to bid competitively.
- With roughly half the Manning Institute’s 354,000 sq ft left as shelled space, future fit-out packages, including cGMP clean rooms for pharmaceutical production, remain a pending opportunity for mechanical, electrical and cleanroom specialty subs once UVA determines funding and demand for that buildout.
