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Seven Considerations That Help Shape Long-Term Planning for Research Facilities

Published 4/24/2024

The most accurate prediction about the future of science is that it cannot be predicted, especially when it comes to laboratory facilities that support higher education, research, and manufacturing. Attention to these seven key considerations can help futureproof laboratory facilities: floor-to-floor height, utility distribution strategy, exterior research space, specialized environments, hazardous components, structural considerations, and engineering criteria.

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Labs for Growth: How Incubators and Second-Stage Facilities Accommodate New Research Companies

Published 2/28/2024

Incubators are essential to the development of many innovative ventures, but it’s in the stage between venture and company where many going concerns stop going. That’s when they don’t know exactly how much space or how many people they will need, and how fast the operation can grow. If they lock into a spot, they can end up choking on the lack of space or drowning in more space than they need or can ultimately afford. This is especially true of research labs.

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Designing Facilities for Long-Term Adaptability

Published 7/15/2020

Change is inevitable over the life of a research facility, but modular design and careful attention to utilities—for both adaptability and flexibility—can minimize disruptions and future-proof infrastructure. Enrollment growth at major research institutions is outpacing available space to support the research activities. In addition, programs and buildings are now more technically complex than those built decades ago, with unique requirements, such as animal facilities, cage-washing capability, greenhouse space, and open laboratories. “We are not designing every single space, every single outlet, for a single investigator,” says Timothy Reynolds, a principal with TreanorHL Science & Technology. “We are designing it for investigators that are going to be here 25 years from now. We don’t want to go down the road to find that the facilities that we design today, that are still in operation in 50 years, can’t be modified.” These principles are even more important now, given the challenges university faculty members, staff, and students face in the current pandemic. The use of modular planning, moveable furniture systems and laboratory casework, and flexible infrastructure can allow for the rapid changes called for today. A space in one of TreanorHL’s recent facilities, for example, has been converted to a sterile compounding lab to produce a solution for COVID-19 testing.

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Time-based Migration Plan Achieves Cost Avoidance for Wells Fargo

Published 11/12/2014

Aiming to exit two leased facilities, backfill an owned building, and reunite departmental groups, Wells Fargo Bank successfully completed a two-year restack, consisting of approximately 40 projects that moved about 5,000 employees and touched roughly 1.1 million sf in seven Charlotte, N.C., facilities. A time-based migration planning process allowed Lori Ferguson, Wells Fargo senior properties project manager, and her team to keep the gargantuan task on track as it implemented the corporate strategy.

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