Architect and Project Manager Rodney Pauley and Chief Marketing Officer Jen Wood from ZMM Architects and Engineers shared updates on the WV Consolidated Labs project at a meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Health during interims for the WV State Legislature on June 24, 2025. Information from that presentation was shared in the following WV News article. Additional coverage and photos are provided in the links below the article.

Lawmakers updated as site work begins for West Virginia Consolidated State Laboratory facility

by Charles Young SENIOR STAFF WRITER

ROANOKE, W.Va. (WV News) — Work on the future site of the West Virginia Consolidated State Laboratory facility officially got underway Tuesday, according to the project manager.

The $250 million, 288,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed by spring 2028, said Rodney Pauley of ZMM Architects and Engineers.

“To put that in perspective for you all, that’s just a little over half the size of the West Virginia State Capitol,” he said.

Pauley, who addressed Tuesday’s meeting of the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Health during June interim meetings at Stonewall Resort, said crews with K&N Contracting began site preparation work as he spoke.

“They will be on site today beginning work,” he said.

K&N submitted a $1.6 million bid for the site work, which is scheduled for substantial completion at the end of December and final completion in late January 2026, Pauley said.

The facility will be located on a site in the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston.

“It’s a site right now that basically used to be a hill or a mountain,” Pauley said. “All that dirt was taken away, and what that left was a 10.5-acre flat site.”

Construction of the facility itself should begin in February 2026 and take about 24 months, he said.

The new facility will house the Department of Health’s Office of Laboratory Services; the Division of Labor’s Office of Weights and Measures; State Police and Department of Homeland Security forensics labs; the State Medical Examiner; and labs from Marshall University and West Virginia University.

Input from more than 100 stakeholders representing its future occupants was considered during planning and design, said Jen Wood, [Chief Marketing Officer] for ZMM.

“It’s a complex project with a multitude of folks involved,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that all of the parties involved were able to provide insight into this project to make sure that we get it right.”

When the project is complete, the facility will be owned by the West Virginia Department of Administration and managed by the West Virginia General Services Division, according to General Services Director Robert Kilpatrick.

“Much like we manage the (State) Capitol and the buildings in the State Capitol Complex,” he said.

The Legislature appropriated funds for the consolidated state lab project in 2023 during a special session. Officials participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at the site in April 2024.

“When it’s finished this facility will provide the space and resources many of our state agencies need to properly serve the people of West Virginia,” said then-Gov. Jim Justice during the ceremony. “This will make a huge difference and promote collaboration because so many great people from our state agencies will be working together under the same roof. This isn’t just an investment in a new building. This is an investment in the future of our state.”

Additional Coverage

• [The Parkersburg News and Sentinel] Progress toward consolidated state laboratory continues
• [The Journal] Progress toward consolidated state laboratory continues
• [WV Press Association] Lawmakers updated as site work begins for West Virginia Consolidated State Laboratory facility
• [Mountain Media News] Lawmakers updated as site work begins for West Virginia Consolidated State Laboratory facility
• [MetroNews] Architects present updated schedule, structural details for new state consolidated lab
• Photo gallery of presentation from WV Legislative Photography