Hitt Contracting Inc. has broken ground on an innovation lab in Falls Church that it hopes will speed up the commercial real estate industry’s embrace of new products and technologies.

The 8,600-square-foot Co|Lab at 2757 Hartland Road was designed by William McDonough + Partners and is slated to open next summer.

“It’s a small building, but we hope it will be small but mighty,” said Katie Rothenberg, Hitt’s vice president of sustainability and innovation. “It’s an investment for us that we’re hoping will drive innovation and collaboration. The goal would be to help bridge the gap between architects, subcontractors and clients to find better ways to do things.”

Hitt declined to say how much it cost to put the lab together.

The facility will feature environmentally sustainable elements, including pre-fabricated, lightweight wood panels, roof-mounted solar panels and efficient mechanical, electrical and plumbing design. It was designed to have enough room to create mock-ups of things like hospital rooms to test new lighting.

“We can test that out, we can try it, we can touch it, and work with product manufacturers to essentially speed to market some of these products,” Rothenberg said.