For more than 50 years, Building 10 has been a national, if not international, symbol of our nation’s commitment to healthcare. NIH is looking for ways to meet the challenges presented by the aging infrastructure of the building while it continues to meet current and emerging research needs and maintains a safe environment for patients and employees.

The history of NIH strategies to renovate the building began in 1981 with high-level discussions on an emerging need for infrastructure updates and continues today on a more acute level. The construction and recent occupancy of the new Clinical Research Center (CRC) within Building 10 was a big first step in making certain that the building would continue to function as the world’s signature research center for moving new biomedical research from the scientist’s lab to the patient’s bedside.

The next part of the strategic plan aims to renovate selected utility infrastructure components of the building with minimal disruption to ongoing research. In the meantime, until the budget is available for substantial renovations, NIH is committed to a plan that minimizes the risk of interruption of research and loss of research materials. This plan requires areas of the building vacated by moves into the CRC to remain vacant, reducing the demand on existing utilities so they continue to be available for current occupants.

To implement this plan, NIH has approved two policies and established detailed floorplans (accessible by NIH staff only) allowing the affected Institutes and Centers to see exactly how their space is affected.

Following are frequently asked questions about NIH plans for the Clinical Center Complex and the related Center for Biology of Disease program on the South Quad of the Bethesda campus.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What are the problems with the current Building 10?

The current building has inadequate heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and very old electrical and plumbing systems, which need to be replaced. In addition, all aspects of the building need to be upgraded for continued use as a clinical research facility.

2. What is the solution?

A partial renovation is an interim measure to buy time until the funds are available for a full renovation, which is the only real solution.

3. What were the considerations in reaching this solution?

NIH’s plans accommodate all 510,000 nasf of research space which currently house about 2400 staff remaining in Bldg. 10. These existing programs are accommodated on the Bethesda campus.  The plans strive to keep Labs/Branches together, minimize the number of moves by a given group, and limit the impact on the scientific programs.

NIH’s plans divided the programs remaining in Bldg 10 into two groups. Those who have direct patient care contact will remain in Bldg. 10. Those who do not have direct patient care will move out of Bldg. 10. The old animal facilities will also move out of Bldg. 10. Therefore a researcher who sees patients and works with animals will walk to one or the other.

The vertical utility distribution system in Bldg. 10 dictates that the minimal unit for full renovation is whole wings of Bldg. 10.

The present plan renovates the “central” (E and F) wings of old Bldg. 10 as future research space. The “distal wings” are left to be renovated and/or partially demolished in the future.

4. What is the goal of the current strategy?

ORF aims to provide safe, sound, healthy facilities to support current and emerging requirements of the NIH. The goal of the 5-year strategy is to build the B&F program to a level that accomplishes recommended priorities. At the same time ORF must be able to provide responsible stewardship of existing NIIH real property assets. With that in mind, the currently proposed projects provide replacement, renewal, and revitalization of existing assets, but not growth.

5. What steps are involved?

Currently, the Bethesda Campus Strategic Facilities Plan has three major components:

1. Development of an Animal Research Center (ARC) as the keystone of the Center for Biology of Disease (CBD) program with a focus on animal models for disease and translational research.
2. Minimal repair and management of space in Building 10 to protect research and personnel until the complete renovation.
3. Complete renovation of the Central Wings of Building 10 for patient-related translational research labs.

6. How much space do we get with this plan?

Current plans call for 250,000 net assignable square feet (nasf), which will house 1400 staff, for translational research labs and offices in the central wings of Bldg. 10. 260,000 nasf, which will house about 1000 staff, for labs, offices, and animals involved with non-patient research, will be in buildings N, P, 29A/B and 3. The new ARC, which will replace the Bldg. 14/28 complex, will include about 150,000 nasf of research space, assuming some of the current animals are moved off campus onto contract. Once all the moves within and out of Bldg. 10 have occurred, about150,000 nasf will be available for use in the distal wings of Bldg. 10 as expansion space, after future renovation.

7. What is the order of events for all of this?

Construction of the ARC is the first step. About two years into that project, construction of Labs N and P (see campus aerial view) will begin, followed in approximately one-year intervals by renovations of Building 3, Buildings 29A/B, and the Building 10 Central Wings.

8. What factors affect the schedule?

The same factors affect the schedule for Building 10 as affect the schedule for other large projects: Money (the economy), competing priorities, and approvals from NIH, HHS, OMB, and Congress.

9. What is ORF doing to maintain research capabilities in Building 10 until it’s renovated?

To mitigate the risk of serious life safety deficiencies and/or the risk of interruption to research and loss of research material, vacant areas of the building will be closed off. ORF will dial back the cooling and air supply/exhaust to redirect existing capacity to occupied sections of the building. This will extend the life of the systems, maintain usage at a sustainable level, and allow for selective utility repairs that should improve reliability. We will also cut and cap abandoned utilities to lessen the potential for floods.

The 212,000 nasf of former Bldg. 10 Patient Care Unit (PCU) space will be closed off as soon as occupants of “stranded” clinical offices are shifted from those PCUs into other office locations in Bldg. 10. ORF will also secure another 50,000 nasf of space in scattered locations in Bldg. 10.

10. Do these steps completely mitigate the risk?

No. Risk of interruption of research and the loss of materials and results remain despite these interim steps.

11. What can the ICs do?

Help protect the facility by staying out of secured spaces and not exceeding the utility capacity of the facility.

12. Where can I find the NIH policies that apply to space in Building 10?

These policies are all available on the ORF website.

13. In what order will current occupants of Building 10 move?

The FY ’07-‘12 NIH Strategic Facilities Plan (SFP) states that current occupants will move as follows:

• Clinical labs with direct patient contact and which have not already moved to the CRC or ACRF will move to renovated central (E and F) wings.
• Basic science labs and all animal facilities in ACRF and old Building 10 will move to Buildings 29A, 29B, or the new CBD research buildings.
• The IRP Scientific Director and administrative offices in Building 10 will move to Building 3.
• The old, distal wings of Building 10 will remain vacant until they are demolished or renovated.

14. Is there a diagram of areas that are being vacated?

Yes. Authorized personnel may access these floorplans by going to http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/nihedmsdirect/ and selecting the desired diagram from the drop-down menu.

15. As areas are vacated, what happens to the space?

The space will remain vacant and be closed off to allow shutting down utilities to the areas as much as possible in order to reduce the overall load on the building and extend the life of the remaining occupied areas.

16. What is the STRR Program?

The Space Trade Renovations and Relocations (STRR) Program refers to IC space in Building 10 that has been relocated to optimize adjacencies and/or to empty areas of the building that are being emptied. The space into which these ICs are moving will be renovated as part of the STRR Program to meet their research needs.

17. I’ve heard that those people who are not in the STRR Program don’t have to work within the same tight restrictions as those who are. Is that true?

No. All renovations in Bldg. 10 must follow the same utility restriction policies. And the concentration of renovations which will be occurring requires coordination by ORF of all the projects which will be occurring concurrently in Bldg. 10.

18. Who can I contact with additional questions?

Questions can be emailed to the ORF Response Line at orfresponse@mail.nih.gov, and they will be referred to the appropriate person for response.

19. Where can I get updates on this process?

The ORF Division of Facilities Planning updates the Strategic Facilities Plan yearly.  DFP begins the process by interviewing each of the ICs, allowing the IC to define its building and space requirements.  The NIH Facilities Working Group (FWG) then assigns priorities to each requirement, and the Strategic Facilities Plan is constructed from these priorities.  These questions and responses are then updated as information changes. Suggestions for additional information you would like to see included on the page should be sent to the ORF Response Line at orfresponse@mail.nih.gov.