Representatives from Genzyme, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, Turner Construction, as well as business and community leaders, and state and local officials, yesterday celebrated the groundbreaking of Genzyme's Allston Landing Facility (ALF) Expansion, a 112,000 s/f expansion at Genzyme's landmark biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility along the Charles River.

The ALF Expansion is the latest collaboration between ARC and Genzyme, a partnership that dates back to 1991 when ARC designed Genzyme's Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant. Since then, ARC has designed more than one million s/f of new construction and renovation projects for Genzyme, including the brand new 180,000 s/f Science Center in Framingham, Mass.
Over the last few years, Genzyme has expanded production at the Allston facility from four to six bioreactors by fitting-out two previously unused cell culture halls. This has, in turn, stressed support functions and led to overcrowding in some areas of the building. The ALF manufacturing expansion is designed to alleviate this overcrowding and allow updating of support systems to meet evolving production standards.
The new $150 million expansion project includes 86,000 s/f of new office and manufacturing-support space. Genzyme is also building a 26,000 s/f underground co-generation facility, which will generate steam to run the plant's process operations and will also produce electricity. Genzyme intends to seek certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System. The new building is scheduled for completion in spring 2010.

ARC's design team: Jeffreys Johnson AIA LEED AP, principal-in-charge; Been Wang AIA, design principal and Kathryn Archard AIA LEED AP, project architect - were among those who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony also featured guest speakers Mass. Governor Deval Patrick and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.