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Bettesworth Construction
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Skanska’s Mass-Timber AIQB Building Takes Shape at Cold Spring Harbor Lab

Skanska’s AIQB building at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory combines glulam framing and CLT floors, with precise coordination needed at masonry walls, service openings and anchors.

By Bettesworth Construction Team 4 min read
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Skanska is construction manager for a three-story mass-timber research building at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Laurel Hollow, New York. The facility, called the Artificial Intelligence and Quantitative Biology (AIQB) building, pairs glulam columns and beams with cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor decks. Its construction depended on close coordination between timber framing, masonry shear walls, building services and the changing dimensions of wood.

What is the Skanska mass-timber lab on Long Island?

It is the AIQB building at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), not a commercial laboratory for testing timber. Skanska is managing its construction as part of CSHL’s Foundations for the Future campus expansion. The lab’s research focus is artificial intelligence and quantitative biology.

Skanska’s 2025 project release describes the AIQB as a $28 million, 28,000-square-foot facility. Those are project figures reported by Skanska, not independent measurements. The building is one component of a larger campus program.

What materials make up the structure?

The three-story building uses glulam columns and beams to support CLT floor decks. Glulam is made by bonding layers of lumber into structural members; CLT panels are made by bonding layers of lumber in alternating directions. Together, these products form the building’s mass-timber structural system.

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Skanska says the project timber was responsibly sourced from sustainably managed forests in the southeastern United States. It also says sawdust and scrap were recycled or repurposed. ENR’s construction report describes the timber as domestically sourced and fabricated in the United States. These sourcing statements do not amount to an independent life-cycle assessment or establish the project’s total environmental impact.

How much timber went into the building?

ENR reports the following construction quantities for the AIQB project:

  • 121 glulam pieces totaling about 5,000 cubic feet.
  • 75 CLT pieces totaling about 12,000 cubic feet.
  • Approximately 55,000 screws for timber-to-timber, timber-to-steel and other connections.

ENR also describes an 80-foot CLT span, which it attributes to Skanska as one of the longest single CLT spans used in a lab and office building on the East Coast. The article does not establish that comparison independently.

How did the team coordinate timber and masonry?

The structure had to connect precisely with concrete masonry unit (CMU) shear walls around shafts and stairs. ENR reports that the embeds and anchors set into the masonry had tight tolerances. Some early embeds were out of tolerance, so teams repeatedly surveyed the work. Protruding anchors also affected how the timber installer could position and assemble members.

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Deck openings and penetrations for mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services added another coordination task. The project team had to align those openings with the CLT panels and provide reinforcement where needed. This kind of interface work matters because the timber, masonry and building services all need to fit together at specific locations; it cannot be resolved simply by setting panels in place.

Why did the timber need careful conditioning?

Wood changes dimension as its moisture content changes. Skanska project director Jonathan Walsh told ENR, “The timber itself is going to be moving, twisting, expanding and contracting over time.” In the project report, a third-party company installed sensors and monitors to control humidity while the enclosed timber dried. Walsh described the approach as slow drying intended to reduce the risk of warping and cracking. These are methods reported for this project, not universal specifications for every mass-timber building.

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How did the timber installation fit the construction schedule?

ENR reports that timber installation took about six weeks, compared with a planned two months. That duration is the report’s account of this project’s installation, not a general benchmark for mass-timber construction.

The building site sits on a hill overlooking the harbor. ENR reports that work included excavation into the hill on the north side, tunneling and trenching for utility connections, and foundation work that also supported laboratory buildings and future phase-two residence halls. The report says excavation removed approximately 180,000 cubic yards of earth.

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How does the AIQB fit into the campus expansion?

Skanska’s 2025 release describes a $248 million, 379,500-square-foot first phase of Foundations for the Future. In addition to the 28,000-square-foot AIQB, that phase includes a 36,000-square-foot Neuroscience Research Complex and a two-story, 90,000-square-foot parking garage with capacity for 225 cars. Skanska reports $55 million in New York State Empire State Development support: a $25 million grant for the AIQB and a $30 million grant for the Neuroscience Research Complex.

The release describes phase two as research housing and conference facilities. It forecast substantial completion of the overall campaign initiative in early 2027. ENR reported that work on the AIQB was wrapping up, but the sources do not establish a later opening date or confirm that the full expansion is complete.

What the project does—and does not—show about mass timber

The AIQB offers a project-specific example of mass timber used in a research building, including a long CLT span and a construction sequence that required careful coordination with masonry and building services. The available project reporting does not provide a comparative cost study, an independent life-cycle assessment or evidence that this structural system outperforms another one across all measures. Those questions require evidence beyond the reported quantities, sourcing statements and construction account for this building.

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