Whether in biopharma or medical device production, a high-tech lab’s functionality and performance are often defined by the equipment within. Such equipment facilitates how quickly organizations can get their products to the market, and they are often used as levers for attracting and retaining the talent that create the market-differentiating products. Like missing the forest through the trees, though, often overlooked is the biggest piece of equipment – the lab, itself. More than a package housing the instruments that help researchers, technicians, and engineers do their work, the lab is a tool that elevates the performance of everything in it.
Do they accommodate both the individualized work that researchers enjoy, and foster a collaborative culture? Does that culture define and differentiate the overall organization as progressive? When seen in the same light as the equipment that it houses, what defines a great lab starts to evolve. Going beyond their technical performance, modern labs are now being measured by their workplace performance: as well as efficiency, intuitiveness, comfortableness, and their ability to energize the scientists within it.
Savvy leaders understand that tools work in conjunction with the design of their workplace environment to contribute significantly to two goals: talent attraction and retention, and accelerating the development cycle of new and better products. Given our knowledge of the connection between performance and workplace design, research and manufacturing facilities should be viewed through that lens of high-performance equipment to elevate human performance while optimizing the efficiency of product development and market deployment.
Humanizing the Workplace Environment
Biomedical laboratories and manufacturing spaces are unique workplace environments as they need to balance highly regulated technical requirements for air quality and safety with the goal of creating a culture that nurtures the best from an organization’s workforce.
While much of the design focus of such facilities are usually centered on that first part, it is through the intangibles found in designing for a “workplace,” not just space, that companies can nurture innovation and employee creativity to transform ideas into bestselling products.
Culture, collaboration and comfort. Often in the design of research and manufacturing spaces, BLS, NFPA, ISO, EU, and federal and state regulations take precedent in the design. While addressing the safety and quality control measures necessary for these environments, more is needed to create a place where employees are energized to go to work each day. From simple strategies like cushion-back floors and bringing daylight into research spaces to easily accessible amenities that complement day-to-day activities, placing equal emphasis on both employee comfort and safety can foster a positive corporate culture that is creative and innovative-focused.
Figure 1: Fostering corporate culture in laboratory design can be hard for labs that are isolated. Locating amenities closer to lab spaces and creating visual connection between lab staff and others team members can increase the energy in the space, increase safety and security as well as foster collaboration between researchers and corporate colleagues.
Proximity facilitates productivity. Employees who work in cleanrooms have to “de-gown” and “gown up” each time they leave and enter the cleanroom. Locating restrooms adjacent to cleanroom areas that feature a dual entry allows the restrooms to be cleaned without having to shut them down. With a gate in the middle of the restroom, maintenance personnel can perform their duties on one side of the restroom while the other side is still open for use. This avoids increased travel times during breaks when employees would otherwise have to walk farther to the nearest restroom. Placing locker rooms and break rooms in close proximity to cleanroom areas allows employees to maximize their breaktime by minimizing travel time.
Figure 2: For cleanrooms that feature highly proprietary work with security protections, daylight and views can be achieved through a double layered wall system that includes a buffer cavity between the two layers. The cavity provides a dual purpose of serving as a return air cavity for the cleanroom.
Connecting with nature. Incorporating daylight and views of nature is consistently associated with higher reported levels of happiness at work, in comparison to work environments where these are absent. Due to the stringent environmental factors, many labs and cleanroom areas are often sterile, white, fluorescent-lit environments located deep within the interior of manufacturing and research facilities.
Creative approaches and strategic placement of windows and corridors can change this while maintaining the sterile integrity of the laboratory. In one case where proprietary work did not have to be separated from public areas, a buffer corridor gives researchers direct access to daylight and views to a landscaped park. In a different strategy to protect the security of proprietary information, a double wall exterior perimeter provides the outside views while also creating a buffer against particulate contamination of the cleanroom space. In addition to being a buffer, the 2-foot cavity in the wall serves as a return air cavity for the cleanroom.
Optimizing Efficiency Through Design
While designing environments to attract and retain top talent is an important factor in the winner-takes-all-world of high-tech development and manufacturing, due to the intensive regulatory review and approval process, the physical design of the space is just as important. Optimizing efficiency through design can help achieve quicker innovation-to-implementation successes.
Design flexibility in from the start. High-tech and medical device manufacturing facilities are required to meet stringent safety and code requirements, making it difficult to change floor plan configurations as market needs evolve. In addition, every time a process or layout changes, the cleanroom environment must be revalidated, which takes time and can significantly impact production schedules.
Figure 3: Medical Device Laboratory Corridor- A buffer corridor between a public zone and a cleanroom can give staff access to daylight and views to outdoors in work areas that are not governed by security or proprietary risks.
Begin by designing labs and production areas that can be changed/renovated without compromising the integrity of the space. For example, consider including a grid with strategic valve locations to facilitate isolated adaption of utilities as well as cleanroom wall systems that support future changes as products and requirements evolve over the lifespan of a building.
Minimize impact of maintenance on production. Efficient design can streamline and enhance operations not only for lab and cleanroom operations but for maintenance activities as well. For example, by placing a maintenance corridor between two semiconductor cleanrooms the space can be serviced “behind the scenes” by maintenance staff. For larger labs and cleanrooms, placing access points in the mezzanine above creates “gray” space for maintenance within the “white” research or cleanroom environment.
Support the auditing process. Audits are a necessary component of the manufacturing process and auditors may be on site for extended periods of time. Experienced design teams advise companies to reimagine the auditing process – embrace the auditor as a partner and design “audit oasis” in close proximity to company regulatory staff to support information transfer. Provide printers, monitors and secured folders to facilitate document review. Rather than an out-of-the-way office, placing audit offices in close proximity to the audited areas increases transparency of the process and reduces travel times and extra steps for auditors.
Considering Construction Constraints
Renovations unavoidably impact adjacent spaces. Cross contamination can occur when walls are torn down or other physical disturbances take place near labs and cleanrooms. Proper project management and pre-planning during design is key to getting your production line or cleanroom back online following a renovation.
Plan scope to fit shutdown window. Align scope expectations with the amount of time available during the shutdown period. The goal is to get as much done as possible; however, renovation projects often have ripple effects in other areas of the building.
One example of the downstream impact a project can cast beyond the renovation area: adding a temporary access point to accommodate a renovation area. This affects the mechanical and air handling systems of the entire building, as well as triggering code compliance issues.
The enabling work needs to be figured into the project’s overall schedule. Staging actual construction renovation work carefully, with all materials on site before construction begins, facilitates project completion within the shutdown window.
The Validation Team’s time is limited – and valuable. Time is a precious commodity for Validation Teams as their visits are scheduled well in advance. Once construction is finally complete and ready for revalidation, the lab manager, facilities staff, and design team should review and understand the validation matrix document prior to the Validation Team arriving on site to ensure all key items are accounted for and ready for inspection.
Looking at the Big Picture
A building is more than bricks and mortar. It houses a valuable asset – employees. The design needs to address the empathetic interface of people, process, technology and culture. Experienced design teams can see both the forest and the trees, the big picture and the tiny details, that support the science behind the buildings to create efficient, employee-focused solutions that provide the right balance between high-tech and human performance.
Terri Ulrick AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is Principal with BWBR. She can be reached at 651.290.1922 or [email protected].