The Integrated Engineering Research Center (IERC) is a high-priority infrastructure project that will provide world-class modernized facilities and infrastructure to advance two of Fermilab’s highest-priority projects — LBNF/DUNE and LHC Upgrades — as well as the DOE Office of Science’s quantum information science initiative. On July 16, Fermilab received authorization from the Department of Energy to start construction of the IERC.

The IERC will be Fermilab’s largest purpose-built laboratory and office building since Wilson Hall was completed in 1974. The building will preserve and strengthen the iconic stature of Wilson Hall, integrate engineering resources currently scattered across the laboratory, and provide state-of-the-art facilities that will enable the design and construction of high-performance particle physics detectors.

Construction will be executed in two phases. The first phase will begin in August with Mortenson preparing the site for the building. This phase will include draining and filling the east reflecting pond, building a new roadway over the fixed-target beamline, and relocating several utilities outside the footprint of the new 80,000 square-foot building. The second phase will begin in mid-2020 with the construction of the actual building.

This project is scheduled to be completed by mid-2022. The mission and purpose of this building are to centralize engineers to the Wilson Hall footprint area by providing a collaborative environment of laboratory and office spaces to allow scientists and engineers to work together to advance the Fermilab mission.