UMass Boston Tops Off Integrated Sciences Complex Construction

First New Academic Building Since 1974 Set to Open in Fall 2013

Less than nine months after the official groundbreaking, University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley Thursday marked a milestone in the construction phase of the $155 million Integrated Sciences Complex (ISC) with a topping off ceremony. The topping off of a construction project is a ceremonial event marking the end of steel construction by putting into place a final, signed beam.

The six-story building is set to open in fall 2013 at the entrance of the Columbia Point campus and will house state-of-the-art research, teaching, and training laboratories.

“This building is going to be completed before we know it, so it’s great to have this opportunity to pause and recognize the effort of everyone involved,” said Chancellor Motley. “We’re celebrating the future of this building. We’re celebrating what it means for us as a university.”

Chancellor Motley was joined by Commissioner Carole Cornelison of the Division of Capital Asset Management; state representatives Marty Walsh and Linda Dorcena Forry; Boston City Councilor Frank Baker; and Richard Walsh, president of Walsh Brothers Construction, among other community leaders.

"It is tremendously gratifying to see the Patrick-Murray Administration's ambitious capital program for higher education come to fruition," said Division of Capital Asset Management Commissioner Carole Cornelison. “We’re working hard to build first class public higher education facilities in every region of the Commonwealth, and this project at UMass Boston is yet another example of the Administration's commitment to that goal."

Before the topping off ceremony, more than 500 faculty, students, staff and guests autographed the steel beam that was hoisted into place to represent the last of 2,000 tons of structural steel used in the 220,000-square-foot building’s frame.

The Integrated Sciences Complex will be UMass Boston’s first new academic building since the campus was completed in 1974. The ISC will include wet and dry research laboratories and support space, undergraduate Biology teaching labs, an infant cognition lab, and two new research centers—the Developmental Sciences Research Center and the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy.

Deigned by the Boston-based architectural firm Goody Clancy, the ISC is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the UMass Building Authority, and MassDevelopment. The project is managed by the state’s Division of Capital Asset Management and is being constructed by Walsh Brothers.

About UMass Boston
With a growing reputation for innovative research addressing complex issues, the University of Massachusetts Boston, metropolitan Boston’s only public university, offers its diverse student population both an intimate learning environment and the rich experience of a great American city. UMass Boston’s eight colleges and graduate schools serve nearly 16,000 students while engaging local, national, and international constituents through academic programs, research centers, and public service activities. To learn more about UMass Boston, visit www.umb.edu.