MARLBOROUGH, MA — State officials broke ground Tuesday on a new Marlborough facility that will become the home of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab.
The four-story, 200,000-square-foot building is expected to open in 2028 and will house more than 250 employees in the State Police Forensic Services Division, consolidating the current Maynard and Sudbury crime labs into one centralized location, according to the Healey-Driscoll administration.
The facility is being developed by Greatland Realty Partners, with Consigli Construction Co., Inc. serving as the construction manager and Ci Design as the project architect. The building is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
State officials from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance joined Marlborough officials and project partners for the groundbreaking.
The state entered into a 20-year lease for the facility after a competitive procurement process, with two 10-year extension options. Officials said the lease approach will allow the project to be delivered several years sooner than a traditional state-funded design-and-construction process.
“Our Administration remains committed to supporting the State Police’s vision for a new, state-of-the-art crime lab because we understand the importance of sound forensic science in any criminal investigation,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “As a former prosecutor, I know the complexity of this work and I’m proud to see this project provide a facility worthy of that critical public safety mission.”
The new lab will support forensic work for State Police investigations and local police departments, State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble said.
“This lab will allow us to enhance capabilities not only for Massachusetts State Police investigations, but for the work of local police departments that rely on our services,” Noble said.
Officials said the Marlborough site will improve highway access for employees and law enforcement partners who transport evidence to and from the lab. The project will also activate a previously vacant site on Greatland’s Marlborough Campus and create jobs in Marlborough and nearby communities.
“We are delighted to welcome this important public safety facility and its employees to Marlborough,” Mayor J. Christian Dumais said. “When state and local governments work together, the outcomes are always stronger.”
The State Police Crime Lab is an accredited function of the Forensic Services Division through the ANSI National Accreditation Board. Its scientists respond to crime scenes, perform lab testing and provide expert testimony in areas including DNA, criminalistics, toxicology, digital evidence, firearms, arson, explosives, latent prints and drug chemistry.
As part of its accreditation renewal this year, every operational function of the lab will be evaluated by independent experts against national forensic science standards, officials said.
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