The CDM is one of four entities housed within the Life Sciences Centre, a 561,000-sf, eight-story facility that also includes teaching and research labs for the UBC School of Medicine, the Life Sciences Institute research facility, and the Centre for Blood Research. The Life Sciences Centre is now the largest building on the Vancouver campus and the largest building in Canada to achieve LEED-Gold certification.

In July of 2002 the Life Sciences Centre began as a fast-tracked project and achieved occupancy of several upper floor labs just two years later. Work on the CDM, which is located in the lower levels of the Centre, began in 2004 and was on track to open on schedule in the spring of 2007.    However just as the CDM was entering the final construction stage, more than 40 percent of the facility was severely damaged on February 1 by a flood caused by the main water valve in the interstitial space above the basement levels.

“The flood caused a huge delay in our schedule,” says Kymberley Sutton, vivarium manager for the University’s Life Sciences Centre. “We had water levels more than two inches deep in places so we needed to basically reconstruct the lowest floor of the facility.”

Sutton explained that following the flooding, the most severely affected areas had to be taken back down to the studs to ensure that there would not be permanent water damage or mold issues.

“Everything including walls and signage had to come down,” says Sutton. “Even our automated watering system had to be labeled and brought down pipe by pipe.”

The upper floors of the building (the UBC School of Medicine, the Life Sciences Institute research facility, and the Centre for Blood Research) were not impacted, and remained up and running during flood remediation. In the CDM, new construction of shelled out areas was soon to be finalized.

“We were tempted to try to commission those segments separately,” says Sutton. “We ultimately decided that it was best to finish together by getting all of the flood remediation finished and then commission the entire facility all at once.”

The University is currently on track to finalize flood remediation and construction of all spaces in the fourth quarter of 2007 with commissioning following immediately after that. Based on these projections, the CDM is expected to be animal-ready by the second quarter of 2008.

Original Design Strategy

“Thankfully the same team has been together from the beginning of this project,” says Sutton. “This has helped us to stay focused on our original design intent, and to weigh how any project changes will impact operational issues related to animal care and research goals.”

She explains that the Life Sciences Centre was built to serve as a centralized facility that would bring together a variety of smaller, older animal care facilities previously spread throughout UBC’s main and south campus settings. The University also wanted to provide a high-barrier transgenic facility that would meet the needs of its researchers while adhering to all protocols necessary to maintain a specific-pathogen-free (SPF) facility where contained animals are free of specific viruses, bacteria, or parasites.

The 110,000-sf CDM is located in the two basement levels of the Life Sciences Centre. It is devoted specifically to animal research and containment, including transgenic, breeding, animal holding rooms and research zones with 5,000 sf of BSL-3 lab space and 8,000 sf of BSL-2 lab space. Above each level of the CDM is a large interstitial space so that repairs to the automatic watering system and electrical and mechanical systems can be made without entering into the animal rooms themselves.

“Another challenging aspect of this project, unrelated to any flooding issues, has been dealing with financial restrictions and escalating costs,” says Sutton. “To help control costs we began shelling out space on the lowest level and only converted that space into finished areas when funding became available.”

She explains that a prion lab was the first of the shell space to be converted, followed by the addition of an imaging lab. When final funding was in place, the remaining space was designated as a BSL-2 lab, including autoclaves, change room, and separate access.

Flood Remediation

“Because of insurance-related issues we cannot make any major changes to the building design in the areas undergoing flood remediation,” says Sutton. “Where possible, however, we have been able to make enhancements that do not change the original design intent.”

She points to improvements being made to reduce the noise levels of the HVAC system.

“Before the flood we had already begun testing the HVAC and condenser systems and found that the noise levels were higher than we would have liked for mouse breeding,” says Sutton. “Now as we are rebuilding those systems, we are adding extra insulation where possible to address this concern.”

Sutton adds that controlling noise levels has also been an issue during the flood remediation and rebuilding.

“Many areas of the building, including the medical school, have remained open during rebuilding,” says Sutton. “When possible, we have tried to limit noise during exam times and interviews and have also tried to minimize overall disruptions from odors and false fire alarms.”

Security Concerns

In addition to planning for ongoing security issues of the finished facility, the University has had to address unexpected security concerns related to the rebuilding process.

“When you go back to being a construction site, the trades involved have had to increase security of the property to prevent the theft of natural resources, such as copper, which has been a problem in our region,” says Sutton.

She adds that the construction process has also pointed out some concerns related to the facility’s future traffic patterns.

“Many of the contractors are using the fire wells as short cuts to get from one side of the building to another,” says Sutton. “Even though we aren’t operational yet, we need to find a better way to control access to these areas so that they do not continue be used as thoroughfares.”

She adds that it is just one of the security concerns related to monitoring personnel access throughout the Centre.

Each animal holding room has its own dedicated monitoring panel that controls the room’s lighting and environmental systems such as temperature and humidity settings. In addition to displaying the room’s environmental conditions, the monitoring panel also includes a keypad that serves as a touchpad entry control system. The BSL-3 labs will include a separate access keypad and a biometrics system for added security.

Material and Traffic Solutions

Sutton explains that the material that will be moved the most is bedding for the animal cages.

When the CDM is operating at full capacity, with 25,000 cages in use, approximately 3,500 liters of bedding will be needed. This equates to 86 40-lb bags of bedding each day.

To facilitate these bedding requirements, the CDM installed a vacuum bedding system, which was not impacted by the flood.

The CDM will have its own dedicated loading dock devoted specifically to the shipments for the animal facility. When animal bedding arrives, a crane just inside of the dock can lift bags as heavy as 1,000 pounds. The bedding is then poured directly into the automated vacuum system, which delivers bedding directly to the bedding dispenser in the clean cagewash area.

The dedicated loading bay enables the CDM to receive and send animal shipments directly with no impact to the main building. Incoming and outgoing animals are processed in an animal transfer station. Incoming animals are placed into cages and taken to the quarantine area. The corridor adjacent to the animal transfer station includes a dumbwaiter to move animal cages and materials between the transfer station and the lower level transgenic and breeding zones of the CDM.

“We worked closely with Allentown and Ehret to develop a unique biosafety transport cart so that we can bring the animals directly from their shipping containers and place them into their cages immediately,” says Sutton. “The mobile cart is ventilated with HEPA filtered air so that we can protect the animals and protect workers who are exposed to the cart.”

Future Safeguards

“After what we have been through following the flood, our researchers are obviously concerned that another flood could happen,” says Sutton. “We have taken this concern to the highest levels of the University and we are all committed to doing what we can to prevent any future flooding.”

She adds that the University plans to conduct feasibility studies that will review the building systems and outline steps that can be taken to mitigate the risks of flooding.

One example within the study will be a review of cement floors compared to corrugated metal floors, known as Qdecks.

“If water hits the Qdeck it travels as if it were in a trough in the direction of the corrugated sheets,” says Sutton. “In contrast, cement flooring may keep the water isolated in one area.

“Flooding is really a risk that all wet labs face,” she concludes. “We feel that a detailed feasibility study will help us to minimize the risks of water damage in future lab building projects.”

By Amy Cammell