Consolidated state labs planned for South Charleston Technology Park – WV MetroNews

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Funding is now in place to combine state labs for multiple agencies into one facility at a site in South Charleston.

Department of Administration Secretary Mark Scott met with lawmakers this week to update them on the plan in place for the new facility that will house seven different entities who plan to utilize the labs.

$125 million had been appropriated to a project of combining labs into a nicer, newer and larger facility to house state labs through a bill that was signed by lawmakers in March 2023.

At the completion of a report conducted by the Performance Evaluation and Research Division (PERD) in January 2022, it was recommended that the future labs be set up at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park. In July of that year, Scott said an expression of interest was sent out for a study to be conducted on the Technology Park, funded by the General Services Division. In return, they were given a detailed analysis into the site, all to make sure the site was in good enough condition for the labs.

PERD toured a handful of state laboratory facilities last year and determined that nearly all the state’s laboratory testing programs are in dated facilities and do not have sufficient lab space. There have also been no facility upgrades or recent remodeling to the current facilities.

Now that funding is in place for the project, Scott said they will hire a design firm for the project, which he expects the design work to take an extended period of time.

Scott added that they will split up the next steps for the project into two phases. Phase One is site design. Scott said once the design work is complete, they will then move into the building design.

“We’re looking for a site development package being out to bid this coming April,” said Scott.

The construction package will be out to bid once the site design bid is fulfilled.

The seven departments and agencies set to use the consolidated labs are:

• Department of Agriculture’s laboratories located at the Gus Douglass Agricultural Center in Guthrie
• Department of Environmental Protection’s Air Quality Laboratory
• Bureau of Public Health’s Public Health Laboratory in South Charleston and Newborn Screening Laboratory at the West Virginia Regional Technology Park
• Division of Labor’s Weights and Measure Laboratory in St. Albans
• State Police Forensic Laboratory in South Charleston
• Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s autopsy suite and laboratory in Charleston
• Public Health’s Environmental Chemistry Laboratory in Big Chimney.

“We’re looking at substantial completion by December of 2026,” Scott said, meaning the goal is to have the labs furnished and ready to go by then.

Scott also said that the new labs will feature mostly new equipment.