Photo by Skip Lawrence Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, commanding general, United States Army Medical Command and Army surgeon general, speaks Thursday during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases facility at Fort Detrick. The building is expected to be completed in 2014.

The project, expected to be completed in May 2014, is recognition of a "tough and too often thankless mission ... to save lives and halt outbreaks of deadly diseases," said Maj. Gen. James Gilman, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick.

The new building will provide more than 800,000 square feet for the research group, including 17,000 square feet of Biosafety Level 4 lab space -- used to study the most dangerous biohazards, such as Ebola -- and 34,000 square feet of Biosafety Level 3 space, where researchers can work with other harmful agents such as anthrax.

Some residents in nearby neighborhoods are concerned about USAMRIID's expansion and petitioned in February for an independent group to review the Army's public health and safety risk assessment of its building plans. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, secured federal money so the National Academy of Sciences could evaluate the Army's report under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Though the National Academy of Sciences review may not be completed until March 2010, Col. John Skvorak, commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, said it does not look like the review will hold up construction of the new building.

"I'm confident the folks who did the (Army's) study did a thorough job," he said.

Skvorak said the building would be important as his institute continues to search for treatments for deadly diseases, both for the armed services and for the general public.

"We will incorporate additional technology to the work we do, as well as having a flexible building design. One of the problems with the building now is it hasn't been able to keep up with us," he said.

The current USAMRIID building was completed in 1972 and, while state-of-the-art at the time, does not provide the reliable and high-quality electricity, information technology and other systems needed to support the high-tech lab equipment, he said.

Skvorak also joked during the ceremony that the new building would finally provide adequate office space for his approximately 800 employees -- "kind of a novel concept for USAMRIID."

The new building is designed to hold more than 950 employees, which will be important as USAMRIID continues to work with more federal departments at Fort Detrick. Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, surgeon general and commanding general of the U.S. Army Medical Command, said USAMRIID played an important part in detecting and studying the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak and the 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, and he said he was looking forward to seeing what else the institute would accomplish with its new facility.

"The United States needs the capabilities that the new USAMRIID will bring, but the USAMRIID scientists and technicians, and support and administrative staff, have earned this incredible building through a 40-year record of unwavering dedication to excellence, to science, and above all, to the warfighter," Skvorak said during the ceremony.