Moving Labs? A Checklist to Follow

There are numerous things to consider when moving labs, from managing potential hazards associated with your work to determining the optimal size of the new facility for your business's current and future needs. In this article, our Associate Commercial Director for Bruntwood SciTech, Mark Julian, shares his expertise and experience on the subject. Additionally, we have insights from Andrew Powers, Projects Manager at Aport - a specialist in laboratory re-locations - who are based at Alderley Park.

Main Considerations When Moving Lab Space

Type of Equipment Being Transported

A major consideration is the type of cargo being transported during the move. Some equipment may be hazardous, fragile, or sensitive, so it’s important to transport it safely and securely, depending on your project needs.

Andrew Powers from Aport added: “This will be dependant on the type of laboratory and the work being undertaken e.g. if they work with potentially hazardous microorganisms; house sensitive data, e.g. on customers, clinical trial patients, research; the specialist equipment that they use.”

In the case that you are shipping hazardous materials, you must comply with regulations issued by the Department for Transport (DfT), ensuring your carriers are secure for the journey ahead.

Timing Your Move and Installation

Timing your move efficiently is crucial to ensuring minimal disruption to your work. Simple but important steps such as organising removal times, decommissioning equipment, considering any development work in your current facility that may impact moving, preparing installation processes ahead of time, and factoring in storage needs will make your move swift and seamless.

Consider the process for decommissioning and recommissioning certain equipment. Will you use in-house staff or outsource to the manufacturer? There can be long lead times when outsourcing, so working with a lab removal provider that can organise this for you, such as Aport, is beneficial.

Andrew also noted the importance of considering equipment qualifications ahead of time, such as the requirement of an IQ (Installation Qualification) or an OQ (Operational Qualification) in line with FDA regulations. If either of these apply, you’ll need an equipment qualification plan that sets out how the instrument will be tested, allowing time for these tests before resuming work.

Potential Challenges in Facility Changeover

Certain labs and work may present challenges during a move, but these hurdles can be overcome with help from the experienced team at Bruntwood SciTech.

Wet Labs

Wet labs can present their own unique set of challenges, particularly those with potentially hazardous microorganisms or liquids.

You need to consider how they’ll be transported, including the temperature levels and storage requirements if a new space isn’t ready. We would recommend hiring an experienced company with a high level of expertise on moving hazardous goods and transporting temperature critical chemicals and equipment.

Taking these cautionary steps is necessary to ensure your wet lab properties are moved to the next facility safely and correctly, preventing any potential damage and costs.

Specialist Equipment and Sensitive Data

Similarly to above, moving equipment and data in the most suitable way possible is necessary to ensure a smooth process.

Specialist equipment is expensive and vital to a company’s day-to-day operations, and therefore should be protected in the move. Andrew provided us with further details on this:

“Knowing if the equipment can be palletised is a good first step to take. This allows it to be transported easily, it needs to be wrapped in industrial grade bubble wrap that has an anti static coating on it to avoid any malfunctions once re-commissioned ready for use.”

“When it comes to moving sensitive data such as computers and disk drives, they can get moved in sealed containers. You can check prior to them being removed from your facility and ensure they haven’t been tampered with upon arrival. ADR licensed drivers can also look after regulations.”

These cautionary steps will keep equipment and data secure, allowing you to have peace of mind during the process. This will allow setup at the new facility to be as efficient as possible, with no damage to equipment or data.

How Can Bruntwood SciTech Help the Process?

At Bruntwood SciTech, we aim to make moving your laboratory to one of our buildings or campuses seamless, with responsive in-house teams available for face-to-face interactions whenever you need them.

We have a thorough process in place to guarantee that we capture your specific requirements, and ensure the correct size and specification of facility is identified. Our commercial team will work in partnership with you, drawing on expertise from our H&S, Project Management and Lab Design teams to present appropriate lab space options that provide operational efficiency and flexibility for your growth. It is important that the right specification of lab space is paired with your operations to ensure that your staff are working in a safe and compliant environment. Equally, products and services must be developed and conducted in the correct regulatory and operational environment; whether that be CL1, CL2, a chemistry lab, or a GMP facility among other options, to ensure quality assurance for all stakeholders and alignment with your marketing strategy.

Our developments also provide a range of services that enable customers to focus on their science and improve operational efficiency.

Services include: autoclaving, glass wash, lab coat laundry, PAYG equipment, waste & logistics services, business support services and others. Importantly, the provision of flexible short term agreements on temporary space and PAYG equipment, ensures that our customers can be agile and opportunistic when pivoting to different markets, acquiring new business opportunities at short notice or expanding their lab space. It is important to always have lab space of all sizes available to enable our customers growth and, on occasion, rightsizing.

The space we deliver contains a base level of lab fit-out ready for customers to begin operations immediately. However, where customers require bespoke alterations or additions, further details on the materials and organisms to be used, process flows and the equipment to be housed are essential to establishing the correct lab environment. This information often dictates if any adjustments to the number of air changes per hour, air pressure regimes, physical separation, cooling or cleanliness of the lab are required. We can also deliver value by advising on the level of ducted or recirculating equipment required for your operations; with the advancement of technology we can help customers to minimise their expenditure and provide a broader range of lab space options. All of this is captured through our lab design consultation process, with the end goal being to deliver a space that is efficient and fit for our customers to achieve their milestones and business plan objectives.

When executing projects, we work with customers to provide an accurate timeline of key milestones and the critical path of the programme of works, including what risk has been built into the programme. This ensures that customers have as much information as possible to time and plan relocation activities, including the conclusion of existing workflows and the decommissioning and recommissioning of business critical equipment.

• Timing and communication is key on both parts, and the customer has to consider the following to ensure a smooth transition:

• Timing of the completion of funding rounds or capital injections and associated runway. This may impact lease commitment lengths and ROI on any fit-out works undertaken.

• Design and legal processes and their timing. The more complex the fit-out the longer, the design period is, potentially impacting the legal process as well.

• Lead times on the procurement of new equipment and possible supply chain delays.
  For large or complex works packages, the possibility of an extended construction period must be considered. This could impact the delivery of equipment and storage options may need to be considered in the interim.

• The completion of existing workflows. It’s key that double overhead periods are minimised when relocating, where possible.

• De-commissioning, relocating and re-commissioning of business critical equipment. Allow plenty of time to book in specialists as they may not be able to jump on a project at short notice.

• Hiring of new members of lab staff to align with the completion of the lab fit-out.

• Reliefs and Grants: Capital allowances, R&D credits, Local Government grants and incentives are key tools to offset capital expenditure on fit-out and equipment.

Before moving in, customers are contacted by their customer operations manager to be onboarded to the facility, including a briefing on site health and safety, fire assembly points, and security passes. After settling in, we periodically check in to understand their needs and facilitate any growth plans. We’ll also link customers into the business support and innovation services teams and let them know how to sign up to our events programmes to ensure they can build their business and their network.

Bruntwood SciTech’s thorough and hands-on approach ensures every detail and specification is met accordingly, with a team of in-house experts committed to setting up a new state-of-the-art space to support the customer’s work.

Final Considerations Before Moving Lab

As well as finding a trusted removal company for laboratory equipment that can provide an end-to-end solution for lab removal and project management, including decommissioning equipment, highly secure and experienced drivers, regulatory adherence guidance, and storage facilities, you should also consider:

• Calculating lead time on legal processes and getting equipment moved, recommissioned, and ready for use.

• If fitting out the facility to your specifications, consider possible construction delays, supply chain issues, and timing with legal processes.

• Planning when employees can start work to minimise the impact on business operations.

Why Choose a Bruntwood SciTech Lab?

There are many options when it comes to choosing a new lab space, so what sets Bruntwood SciTech’s lab facilities apart?

Besides the thorough process mentioned above, Bruntwood SciTech has a proven track record of delivering quality lab spaces for occupiers of varying levels of maturity, welcoming newer companies that plan to grow, as well as already established, larger setups.

At Alderley Park, Manchester Science Park and Citylabs, we’ve seen a number of businesses expand on-site including Yourgene Health and Sai Life Sciences. Larger occupiers are attracted to the potential for scalability through the links with hospitals and universities, as well as a developed ecosystem, and diversity of businesses.

Bruntwood SciTech offers a range of lab facilities with varying features and specifications. We ensure the move to one of our spaces is as efficient as possible, with our teams always available to assist. Explore our range of lab space today and book a tour. We'd love to show you around.