Lab Planning 101: A Newbie’s Guide to Planning, Project Management, and Design

Setting off on the journey of lab planning, management, and design can be an overwhelming experience for newcomers, especially those without a design and construction background. A well-planned laboratory environment can accelerate commercial or academic activities, while a poorly designed facility can cause inefficiencies. No pressure!  

A laboratory space that is highly functional and increases employee well-being is no accident. It takes a little bit of vision, the right input from lab occupants, and an experienced lab designer. If you’ve been tasked with getting a new lab up and running, this article breaks down the essentials of lab planning to help deliver a lab on budget and on time. 

Understanding motivation and purpose

This might sound obvious, but before diving into the rabbit hole of lab planning, it's essential to understand what the motivation and purpose are for a new laboratory. For example, a company’s motivation may be to increase investment in R&D, while the purpose of the lab itself is to house biochemistry and molecule-making processes.  In a university setting, the motivation could be raising the academic profile of an entire department via a core lab purposed of running an advanced instrument for collaborative use. A healthcare organization is motivated to save more lives. The purpose of an expanded clinical lab would be to reduce wait times on urgent diagnostic tests through automation.  

Laboratories serve various functions, such as experimentation, testing, or production. Defining the motivation and purpose of the lab helps to guide all future decisions. If basic science and discovery are a priority, space planning looks different than if production and commercialization were a priority. If incorporating more automation is a priority, equipment selection will influence the rest of the furniture layout. If a lab’s primary purpose is to house a new instrument, then the project schedule becomes driven by the delivery of that instrument. Motivation and purpose should be crystal clear from the outset of the project. 

Bubbles and blocks 

After aligning team members to the WHY of the lab, the next step is pulling together the initial layout. The first draft should be a simple diagram of bubbles and blocks that focuses on activities and workflow. The idea is to understand the main instrumentation and processes happening in the lab and then create a floor plan from that. The cost per square foot of labs can range from $400 to $1,000 or more per square foot, so efficient use of space is paramount. A diagram helps to organize the workflow and the interactions between different workstations. If you’re working with a vendor, lab planning consultant, or architect, this diagram helps them understand how your laboratory needs to work. If you’re a designer, working with the owner’s rep to create this diagram is an important step before an actual floor plan.  

The floor plan should be approached as a collection of zones for different activities, such as wet lab areas, dry lab areas, support rooms, and storage spaces. 

Building codes and safety regulations

Not everyone has the luxury of moving into a turnkey lab. Whether it’s new construction, the renovation of an existing lab, or the conversion of another type of building into a lab, due diligence of building codes and safety regulations has to happen upfront. Hire a licensed architect or consultant familiar with the IBC, NFPA, and local regulations and guidelines to ensure compliance with building codes.  An older building’s physical features, mechanical system, and handicap accessibility may have to be brought up to the latest codes. A conversion of one building type to a lab has its own special set of problems. See this article for a guide to conversions. The project budget and floor plan design must also factor in safety features such as emergency exits, eyewash stations, and fire extinguishers, in addition to all the lab equipment and furniture. Additionally, make sure to allocate sufficient space for personal protective equipment (PPE) storage—a task that’s often forgotten about until the end of the project, when it really should take place during the beginning of the planning process. Codes and regulations are not a very exciting part of lab planning, but making a mistake or oversight will cost time and money. 

Equipment selection and placement

The next big-ticket item in lab planning is equipment selection and coordination. There are two main categories of equipment: Owner Furnished Owner Installed (OFOI) and Contractor Furnished Contractor Installed. The OFOI equipment should be a comprehensive list compiled by the laboratory users. For lab planning purposes, small desktop-sized items that plug into a standard outlet can be ignored. What’s important to know and track are large items (bigger than a dorm fridge) that may increase the amount of benchtop space, floor-mounted equipment that may require reducing furniture footprints, 208/220-volt equipment that requires special power, plumbed equipment with water or gas that may require special turrets or piping, and ventilated equipment that could increase the cost and size of the laboratory air system.  Of the CFCI equipment, depending on whether the project is an existing building or new construction, built-in equipment: fume hoods, above-ceiling fan-coil units, rooftop exhaust fans, autoclaves with electric steam generators, heat exchangers, and local exhaust snorkels are items that would need to be specified by the owner or design team and purchased by the contractor. Both the OFOI equipment and CFCI equipment can influence the cost, schedule, and design of the lab. 

Flexibility for future growth

Anticipate the evolving needs of the lab with flexibility in mind. Laboratories are dynamic environments that may require changes in equipment, personnel, and purpose over time. Plan for adaptability by incorporating modular furniture and flexible infrastructure that can be easily reconfigured to accommodate future growth or changes in research direction. A lab with built-in, fixed cabinetry may have a lower upfront cost and may be the right choice for some projects. Modular systems that plug into overhead power, data, and gases have a higher upfront cost, but the ability to change the lab may outweigh that first cost. There are many modular furniture systems on the market, with some manufacturers selling directly to the customer and others using a third-party seller. Almost all companies will provide design assistance to the customer or the customer’s design team, even if a purchase order hasn’t been made yet. 

Conclusion

Embarking on lab planning as a newcomer may seem like a daunting task, but all it takes is understanding some key planning steps to make the journey easier. Understand motivation and purpose, use diagramming as a tool to document workflow and activities, prioritize due diligence of building codes, don’t underestimate the time and effort needed for coordinating OFOI and CFCI equipment, and plan for as much flexibility as budget allows. You can create a functional and efficient laboratory environment by following these principles. Hopefully, this article helps the novice lab designer navigate the challenges of lab planning, ultimately contributing to the success of the project.

Jennifer Swedell AIA, LEED AP BD+C is a member of NOMA, an associate principal with CO Architects, and a seasoned laboratory planner and designer with over 17 years of lab design experience for academic, government, and private industry clients.

All opinions expressed in Lab Planning 101 with Jennifer Swedell are exclusive to the author and are not reflective of Lab Design News.