Streamlining Lab Renovations: How Design-Build Delivery Helps Universities Save Time and Reduce Costs

The Caltech Keck Gao Lab is a holistic renovation of a 1960s-era lab facility. The project modernizes the laboratory and faculty office for Wei Gao, PhD, assistant professor of medical engineering with the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. The project included full demolition and redesign of research laboratory space and faculty and student office areas. All images: Dolores Robles-Martinez, Courtesy of Perkins&Will

As academic campuses face the dual challenges of overbuilding and high capital costs, many universities are shifting focus toward shorter-term projects like lab renovations—efforts that address immediate needs and reduce embodied carbon. However, working within existing occupied buildings presents challenges, making it crucial for institutions to engage a contractor early in the process to mitigate risks.  

Jessica Orlando, higher education practice leader at Perkins&Will's Los Angeles studio, advocates for a design-build delivery approach, particularly for smaller renovation projects. She states that this method, which integrates design and construction teams from the outset, can streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and ensure smoother execution. 

Universities should consider design-build delivery for smaller lab renovation projects instead of traditional design-bid-build approaches, Orlando says, because the approach allows a strong upfront partnership between the owner, contractor, and architect, which enhances the project team's ability to stay aligned on constraints, such as budget and schedule. "While challenges may arise during renovations of existing infrastructure, design-build partnerships help to facilitate early information gathering and an understanding of what will be delivered, which can reduce the risk of change orders and conflicts through design and construction that lead to higher costs and later completions," she says.  

Design-build delivery helps balance wet and dry lab needs in interdisciplinary research spaces by quickly assessing existing infrastructure and determining whether upgrades are necessary to support higher-intensity lab functions. A key challenge in renovations is when clients want to increase lab intensity, such as converting office space to wet labs or upgrading biology labs for high-intensity chemistry research.  

Orlando comments, "With a design-build partnership, the team can quickly investigate to validate the systems in place and make infrastructure recommendations to support the equipment and systems needed for desired lab types." 

Overcoming challenges 

The lab's primary research interest is in the development of novel bioelectronic devices for personalized and precision medicine.

Renovating labs within occupied academic buildings presents challenges, such as unforeseen conditions and the lack of as-built drawings. The design-build approach addresses these by fostering a collaborative information-gathering process and early coordination during the design phase.  

Orlando says early communication plans are key. "To maintain the performance of research environments and mitigate challenges for users within operational lab spaces, we also create early communications plans to inform all building stakeholders of planned activity and construction logistics that may result in dust, noise, traffic, and other potential distractions, ensuring teams have the foresight to plan accordingly," she advises.   

Design-build strategies can help universities reduce embodied carbon in lab renovation projects by reusing existing buildings, which generates fewer carbon emissions than new construction. This approach also allows for replacing aging systems with more efficient, environmentally friendly options, like upgraded HVAC and electrical systems, while selecting low-carbon interior materials, finishes, and lab equipment.  

Orlando notes, "Environmental Product Declarations [a Type III environmental declaration that quantifies environmental information about a product's life cycle] not only help designers make these selections but also hold teams accountable during the design process." 

Case study: Caltech's Keck Lab 

The design-build process for a project like the Keck Lab at Caltech follows a similar trajectory to design-bid-build, beginning with program validation and design development before progressing to permitted documents. The project modernized the laboratory and faculty office for Wei Gao, PhD, assistant professor of medical engineering with the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. For the Keck Lab renovation, weekly owner-architect-contractor meetings facilitated ongoing communication and value engineering, allowing the team to adjust the design as needed and ultimately deliver the project four weeks ahead of schedule. 

Says Orlando, "The key takeaway here is that such projects are much less likely to diverge from what is agreed upon in the beginning, unless owners provide explicit direction that scopes, budgets, or schedules should be changed, and ideally all parties remain aligned through the whole process." 

Another challenge is that renovating older research spaces, such as the 1960s-era Keck Lab, requires careful consideration of hazardous materials like asbestos, lead, and outdated HVAC insulation. While owners often handle abatement, design-build teams can coordinate this process within the renovation to streamline the schedule. Additionally, many buildings from this era require significant life safety code upgrades, impacting elements such as egress, fire sprinklers, and lighting, which must be addressed to meet modern standards. 

Negative air machines, hard wall enclosures, and sticky mats were used to contain dust and airborne debris at all entry points to ensure safety and minimize disruptions during the Keck Lab renovation. Shared spaces like hallways and electrical rooms were carefully contained to prevent debris from spreading while ducting within the construction zone was sealed to protect the building's ventilation system.  

James Lee, project manager with ConAm Construction, shares, "To further maintain laboratory operations during the renovation, the project team issued construction activity notices prior to all deliveries, shutdowns, and work involving staff and nearby areas." 

Communication, communication, communication  

The Perkins&Will team worked with its design-build partner to manage efforts around existing conditions, including hazardous materials and aging systems to develop design strategies to support cutting-edge research within the constraints of the building.

Design-build delivery fosters collaboration by bringing the owner, architect, and contractor together from the start to align goals and expectations within project constraints. "This means that all parties need to stay in close communication through the design development process, collaborating on how things will get built and how we can collectively achieve the vision of the client and end user. When the contractor is helping to inform the design and the architect is helping to inform the budget and schedule development, you end up with a process that is much more holistic and comprehensive," says Orlando.  

Early contractor involvement in lab renovations helps mitigate risk by clarifying existing infrastructure and minimizing unforeseen conditions. It also reduces scheduling risks and budget creep by establishing a feasible delivery schedule that aligns design, approvals, and construction while preventing scope expansion beyond the original plan. Additionally, contractors validate project costs throughout the design process, allowing the team to make informed adjustments and avoid significant budget overruns. 

For universities considering a design-build approach for lab renovations, it's essential to gather insights from experienced owners, contractors, and architects to understand how best to implement the model. Orlando advises that resources like the Design-Build Institute of America's standard contracts can provide industry best practices and guidance on procurement.  

Since design-build shifts risk allocation and emphasizes collaboration, university leadership should ensure their management team understands these differences, promotes transparent communication, and prepares end users for a more integrated project team. Ultimately, they should set clear expectations to maximize the benefits of this delivery model. 

"Overall, recommunicating what everyone should expect from the process is essential, along with an understanding of roles and responsibilities," says Orlando. "Once this is done, you will be able to reap the benefits of the design-build model to help better deliver projects to your campus."