Located in St. Louis, Missouri, the Midwestern Laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility supporting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and its commitment to combating foodborne illness and protecting the nation’s food supply. Spanning 84,000 sf, the single-story laboratory equips FSIS personnel with tools and technology to enhance testing for foodborne pathogens and chemical contaminants.

Subsurface utility mapping by McCarthy Building Companies revealed the paths of existing site utilities and legacy foundations from a demolished building in the project site’s green space. This preemptive step provided civil estimators and designers with the details needed to accurately assess the design’s feasibility and to coordinate excavation and site grading without encountering setbacks.  

The civil underground utilities scope included excavation, grading and backfill to install a 7,500 sf bioretention area; 152,000 sf of access and crane roads; temporary parking; and the building pad. Additional utility earthwork enabled installation of 2,750 lf of storm sewer, 340 lf of domestic water and 620 lf of fire water mains. The team also removed 2,000 lf of existing sewer and 1,200 lf of existing water line.

Housing 60 employees, the laboratory includes essential spaces such as microbiology and chemistry labs, administrative offices, two loading docks, a processing center and a large warehouse. The efficient design streamlines operations and promotes workplace safety while supporting FSIS’ goal to increase testing and inspection capacity.