Fairfax County plans to leave its decaying, leaking laboratory for a more modern facility to handle a wide array of health and environmental testing services.

The county is set to award a $784,000 contract to Reston-based Architecture Inc. to design the new building off Old Lee Highway in Fairfax City, a step in the completion of the project to provide staff a more functional and secure lab, Laboratory Director Mary Kitchen told The Examiner.