Her roles over the years include being a team lead on many multi-disciplinary projects from conception to completion.

Defects.. Hidden defects in existing office buildings can add unexpected cost and delay to lab conversion projects..Existing offices, like all buildings, will almost always harbour some latent issues that will add complication during design or construction.

This can range from old plant in need of an upgrade, to asbestos or structural defects.Office to lab conversions can make good economic sense, however risks and realistic cost and programme contingencies should be captured from day one to avoid future disappointment.Early strip-out, surveys, and review of existing information including the Health and Safety File are all good practice.. 11.

Sustainability..Existing offices may struggle to achieve the lab’s sustainability goals.. Reusing an existing building is one of the best ways to reduce carbon and achieve a project’s sustainability goals.

However, labs consume a lot more energy than an office and this can still make some conversions extremely expensive and carbon-intensive to run without significant upgrades, which may be an even bigger issue in the long-run..

Sustainable labs are also more likely to attract environmentally-conscious staff and tenants, and life science businesses expecting to partner with larger companies (e.g.There were many reasons for this approach:.

Standard solutions allow for a greater level of design and refinement – if a solution is going to be used multiple times then the benefit of good design is multiplied and amplified.It afforded us a far greater level of stakeholder engagement and buy-in than we would typically achieve for a one-off design (see below).

This resulted in, for example, designs that were highly optimised in terms of layouts, space allocation, adjacencies and functional flows – which could then be deployed across the PETP programme and wider prison estate.It creates further efficiencies.