Commercial Contracting Corporation completed construction at two buildings at University of Michigan’s North Campus. The project consisted of a 10,000 SF renovation at the DOW building which allowed researchers from the Gerstacker Building to move to while major renovation work was completed at Gerstacker. Once the researchers were moved out, CCC began extensive renovations to The Gerstacker Building to create 14,000 SF of space dedicated to laser research. This laser system is the largest of its kind in North America and will be used by The College of Engineering’s Gerard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (CUOS), an interdisciplinary research center founded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) more than 25 years ago. CUOS had received a NSF long-term cooperative agreement award for a new zettawatt-equivalent ultrashort pulse laser system (ZEUS). 

The cleanroom (ISO 7) that houses the laser system and laser beam lines has been substantially extended. The building renovation added two new target areas (TA1 and TA2), a new experimental control room, new target preparation facilities and a new laser control room. CCC self-performed the concrete work which included adding thick radiation shielding from floors to ceilings. The facility features thick, rolling shielding doors to close target areas rooms 1 and 2 from the rest of the facility which includes a clean room, a laser controls room, a experiment control room, utility corridors, offices and meeting rooms. CCC also self-performed the miscellaneous steel and carpentry work.