Renovation Strategies for Specialized Laboratory Environments

How do you know if an existing building has what it takes to house a new specialty laboratory? The planning effort has to go beyond the typical process for a conventional lab renovation of defining program needs and investigating existing conditions. It must instead drill down into the unique aspects of the specialized environment, including illuminating the key attributes of the already-occupied and operational facility. 

The considerations planners must take into account span a vast range of potential requirements across a broad spectrum of complexity, from capacious freight elevators to magnetic or radiation shielding. Is the building structure strong enough to support heavy and vibration-sensitive equipment? Can the building infrastructure support specialized temperature or ultra-low humidity environments? Will the lab functions be compatible with adjacent uses?

“These items may not be an issue for a conventional lab facility, but are best addressed in the pre-design/pre-planning stages, reducing surprises and allowing the opportunity to pivot,” says Kent Brown, principal at Lord Aeck Sargent (LAS). Brown and LAS colleagues Kelly Yates, senior associate, and Ben Elliott, director of lab planning, looked at five different types of specialized laboratories to determine their unique needs and the building elements that could affect where to locate them. The team’s extensive study produced a “first-pass checklist” that plots the unique program needs against important existing conditions, highlighting the essential questions to ask in order to shape informed decisions. 

The five types of labs analyzed are behavioral testing, lasers and quantum physics, cleanrooms, advanced manufacturing, and battery research. The primary general building elements which apply to all these specialty types are structure, hazards, building systems, access, and compatibility. 

“The ultimate decision on whether the program will go forward is based on tolerance—in the budget, in the schedule, and what other research is going on in the building,” notes Brown. 

Key Building Elements

While the specialized environments may have their own unique requirements, common sets of issues around building elements often emerge under close scrutiny. 

Structure. The building’s structural system and envelope are critical factors. Check new equipment weights and necessary clearances to assure they can fit and be supported both through corridors and at their final destination. “A building that’s concrete versus steel is going to function differently and have very different capabilities,” says Elliott. For example, post-tensioning in a concrete building will significantly affect the ability to make modifications involving cutting and coring. 

Can the new planning grid align with the existing bay size and column spacing? Do floor-to-floor heights allow for additions to existing utilities and systems? A leaking building envelope may create infiltration problems with water and air, making an exterior wall undesirable for a negative-pressure room. Is the research sensitive to light from exterior exposure or outside interferences like vibration or electromagnetic waves? Will the building alterations have a negative effect on campus aesthetics? What do all the modifications mean in terms of cost, schedule, and impact to the rest of the building and its occupants? 

Hazards. “Laboratory buildings include hazards, whether chemical, radiological, or biological,” states Elliot. It’s critical to understand early what the chemicals and their quantity loads are and assess existing and required control area strategies. Protocols, waste, storage, and all other issues associated with chemical use must be addressed, and the existing equipment and infrastructure in place for decontamination and sterilization must also be documented. 

Building systems. Many new projects have extremely precise HVAC and MEP needs. The quality, capacity, and reliability of existing systems must be assessed. Should current systems be leveraged, supplemented, or replaced? Is the electrical power clean enough? Is a specialty plumbing system needed? “Ask early questions like, ‘Are there scheduled shutdowns for maintenance?’ or ‘How is emergency backup power shared throughout the building?’” advises Elliott. 

Access. Access is more than a matter of verifying the path to receive new equipment (along with its packaging and rigging) in the building. It also encompasses personnel circulation, parking, loading, security, and construction activities. The flow of materials and waste through the lab needs to be investigated. If the building is not already on the institution’s biohazard pickup loop, how does that get incorporated? 

Compatibility. Because environmental conditions like vibration, electromagnetic fields, and radio frequency are pivotal for many specialty research spaces, Elliott recommends viewing the target lab site as a sphere—what’s happening not just in adjacent rooms but above and below. For example, there could be competing issues between the new project and its neighbors, creating interference and/or something sensitive to interference. “It’s not simply making sure that you know the program needs for what you want to insert into a building, but also understanding what’s going on around it, and what those other needs are, and how you can overlap them,” he explains. 

Behavioral Testing Labs

Much of today’s neuroscience work focuses on animal models. Institutions typically have in-house staff with expertise in animal space requirements, whether housing or procedure rooms. “Where there are animals, there is waste,” observes Yates, advising an early look at waste movement procedures and the pickup and delivery system. 

Some projects have complex and unusual requirements, such as a highly specialized behavioral testing space for rodents and non-human primates. That research focuses on measuring brain activity and rapid eye movement, which demands the space be isolated electromagnetically from the rest of the lab. In one instance, the solution was to build a box around the test space, using a modular system purchased from a vendor. “It was incredibly expensive to build, but the need was determined early in the process and planned for in the budget. It was exactly what was needed to make the research work.” 

The amount and type of power available in the designated space needs to support program activities, but Yates warns that “there are times when getting any equipment involving power involves very long lead times.” 

Lab equipment, or the apparatus’ set-up, may require a lot of space, making overhead clearance and the in/out path key considerations. Be sure to determine if additional work needs to be done pre-project before specialty equipment can be installed.

Compatibility with the surrounding research is another consideration. If adjacent animal populations are not compatible, one project might need to end before the next one can start. Yates also highlights the need to review security protocols and checkpoint locations. 

Lasers and Quantum Physics 

Quantum physics is a “super-exciting science to be involved in,” says Yates. While quantum projects are proliferating, they take many different forms, so it’s vital to understand the exact nature and requirements of the research envisioned. 

Key issues range from overhead clearance and bay size to the building envelope and light exclusion. Laser labs on an exterior wall are feasible provided the windows can be covered when the lasers are in use. Enclosing the laser, as a safety measure, is a matter to coordinate with the institution’s laser safety team. 

Along with ensuring clean electrical power, protected from surges and dips, and satisfying load requirements, establishing backup protocols is important. Can the additional backup capacity be supplied by the existing system or pulled from other areas? If a new generator is necessary, be aware of potential long lead times. When deciding where to site the generator, plot the power distribution path to the designated space in advance. 

The requirement for extremely tight environmental controls is becoming more common. Challenging to create for the space required, these conditions are often implemented at the table level. Yates mentions one lab where HEPA filtration kicks in when a laser curtain is drawn around the table. That particular solution entailed significant additional rooftop equipment and through-building coordination to deliver the air to the ground floor lab. The issue of electromagnetic interference from HEPA filter fans right over the tables was resolved by removing and relocating the fans remotely. 

Similarly, the temperature and humidity issues caused by essential heat- and noise-generating equipment—for example, process chilled water, pumps, and chillers—are often resolved by locating that equipment outside the lab in a utility room or service corridor. 

Other elements to explore in advance are freight elevator size and the potential need for specialty fire protection. 

Cleanrooms

Structural clearance is a key issue in renovating for a cleanroom. High bay space eases the installation of new equipment and ductwork and significantly streamlines maintenance. Without overhead access, HEPA filters have to be changed from within the cleanroom, incurring an undesirable research shutdown and restart. 

Vibration sensitivity may be critical, particularly in buildings with post-tensioned or elevated slabs. This can be addressed by a specialized isolation system at the room level or by equipment-specific isolators, depending on the space. With slab-on-grade construction, the slab can be isolated. Security and access control are essential, and protocols, including vestibule procedures, must be established. 

Determining the necessary ISO cleanroom classification is crucial, impacting HVAC requirements significantly. More stringent ISO classes necessitate higher air change rates. The presence of heat-producing or direct-exhaust equipment, more common in materials sciences, will influence the balance between fresh and recirculated supply air, and that determines whether HEPA filters are located in an air-handling unit and ducted or in fan-powered HEPA filter units in the lab ceiling. 

Brown recommends modular cleanroom systems for ISO 7 and cleaner environments. They perform better than stick-built construction and can be turnkey from some manufacturers. Stick-built systems are often less costly and are a time saver, a good option when an ISO 8 cleanroom is needed quickly. 

Advanced Manufacturing 

Encompassing various types of spaces, equipment, and activities, advanced manufacturing is a broad category with challenges that include vibration management, electrical voltage requirements, material movement, and potential noise generation. Equipment from various global sources often requires voltage transformers for compatibility. Some equipment is too large for the freight elevator; some must be bolted to the slab. Some robotics are fixed. Noise and clearance issues are critical. 

Compressed air systems vary in cleanliness levels, with some projects opting for separate dirty air systems for cost-effectiveness. Automated equipment, like injection molding machines, often feed output into micro-environments with cleanroom standards. 

Along with tuning artificial intelligence (AI) learning systems that control large machines, for example, those used for metallic 3D printing or tissue printing, AI can also be deployed to perform activities on the manufacturing floor. Autonomous robots, communicating with the machines, can move materials, reload machines, and perform other similar tasks. “A special laboratory floor with certain clearances and coordination is necessary to segregate the areas where people should walk and where the robots travel,” says Brown. 

He also cautions that the metal dust generated by metal 3D printing is a new hazard for some institutional environmental health and safety officers, and protocols and rules must be developed to contain it. 

Battery Research 

Unlike battery production labs, where large machines and high volumes present a substantial fire hazard, university battery research labs work with smaller devices and lower quantities of material. Still, the need for a low-humidity environment can tax existing HVAC and electrical systems. Brown cautions that long runs of piping or ductwork can affect a system’s efficiency, reducing its ability to meet the humidity target. Airlock vestibules are critical to maintain tight humidity tolerances, but they also have cost and space implications. High-plenum spaces are not essential, but they are an advantage. “Lots of space can solve a lot of things,” he notes.

Ultra-low-humidity space, often referred to as a dry room, is an emerging research need. A dry room has a -40° C dew point, with some researchers requesting even lower dew points. “It is so dry it is incredibly expensive,” says Brown, citing two recent projects where costs ranged from $1,300 to $1,600 per square foot. The requirements are often met by installing a manufactured insulated sealed box that comes complete with doors and a vestibule. 

The lab layout will be driven by the process flow, involving very large equipment like roll-to-roll machines or pouch cell lines that can stretch up to 40 feet long.

By Nicole Zaro Stahl