Once completed, the new High Containment Continuity Laboratory (HCCL) building will be one of just three facilities in the world designed to facilitate diagnostic research on highly contagious and deadly viruses.

The BSL-4 facility will feature a myriad of safety features to keep the researchers and staff in the building safe:

• high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered supply and exhaust air
• air pressure resistant doors
• pressure cascade zoning
• effluent collection and treatment
• pressure decay tested coatings and penetrations
• high purity breathing air
• chemical decontamination showers for research staff

The building will be connected to the existing Roybal campus utility systems with below grade utility tunnels and a two-level bridge connection.

This initiative will increase the CDC’s research capacity to sustain its diagnostic mission and support its public health mission by helping communities prepare for, detect and respond to public health consequences of all hazards. The HCCL will accommodate approximately 80 laboratory researchers.

Part of CDC’s 2025 Masterplan, the new facility currently is in design with construction planned to begin in early 2021.

Fast Company writes about how labs such as this one could prevent the next pandemic