Laboratories are key strategic tools for the pharma industry. They are also high energy users and expensive to build. It is worth noting that the build cost is only a small proportion (3.5% including 0.4% AE and CM fees) of the lifecycle cost when personnel costs (86%) are taken into account, so it pays to take a little extra time at the planning stages to understand the work flow and incorporate this into the design.
Energy is a big factor. The industry standard energy costs of a typical laboratory with 100% fresh air make up can be up to 5 times that of a normal lab with recirculated air. Prochem have recently designed a number of new laboratories of varying types focussing on minimising energy usage to beat the above standard where possible. This includes a recently completed (Aug 2009) 2000 m2 Research and Development Laboratory space including:
The photo below illustrates some of the issues to be taken into consideration for a lab module:
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Open – equipment sharing
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Lighting
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Employee workspace outside of lab
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Services
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Fume hoods
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Dealing with hazardous materials and wastes
