In its 49th year, the Laboratory of the Year Awards continue to recognize excellence in research laboratory design, planning and construction. Judging for this year’s competition took place on Thursday, February 19th and was conducted by a blue-ribbon panel of laboratory architects, engineers, equipment manufacturers, researchers and the editors of R&D Magazine and Laboratory Design Newsletter.

This annual international competition receives entries from the best new and renovated laboratories. Eligible projects represent a wide variety of laboratory types: research, quality assurance/control, teaching, software development, environmental, clinical, forensic and testing and standards.

The 2015 Laboratory of the Year Judging Panel is proud to award this very prestigious achievement to the following facilities:

Laboratory of the Year: South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, Australia. Submitted by Woods Bagot.

High Honors: Charles McC Mathias Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Md. Submitted by EwingCole.

Special Mention: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) National Virology Centre: The Plowright Building at the Pirbright Institute, Surrey, England, U.K. Submitted by HDR Architecture.

Project team members will be honored during the Laboratory Design Conference to be held April 27-29, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia. The Laboratory of the Year program will take place April 28th at 4 pm, at which time team members will receive their awards and give presentations on their projects. Attendees at the conference will be among the first to see the 2015 Laboratory of the Year competition winners, enjoy an in-depth look at these stellar buildings and get the chance to discuss the specifics with the winning project teams.

A complete profile of the Laboratory of the Year, the High Honors and the Special Mention winners will appear in the June 2015 issues of R&D Magazine and the Laboratory Design Newsletter.

The Laboratory of the Year Awards are a joint program of R&D Magazine, Laboratory Design Newsletter (publications of Advantage Business Media) and the Scientific Equipment and Furniture Association (SEFA).

For more information on the Lab of the Year competition or the Laboratory Design Conference, please contact Lindsay Hock, editor, at [email protected] or 973-920-7036.