The average construction cost for a biocontainment facility in North America is currently between $600/sf and $800/sf ($70 million for 100,000 sf), but the cost of operating the facility will eclipse that capital investment by year six and continue climbing for the next 25 to 50 years. As a result, having operations and maintenance personnel involved in the design and construction process of a biocontainment facility and incorporating “best practice” procedures is an important part of reducing ongoing costs over the lifecycle of the facility.

Smith Carter Architects, which has developed some of the world’s most leading-edge, high-containment research facilities for the Canadian Science Centre, the CDC, the NIH, and the U.S. Army, requires all contractors to produce a set of highly detailed construction coordination drawings.

“We want to make sure that this contractor is doing all his due diligence to make sure that he understands what his means and methods are,” says Smith.

There are numerous protocols established for lab decontamination that are impacted by decisions made during the design and construction process. There may be carts that run down aisles that have both width and height considerations and equipment clearance parameters that are necessary for regular maintenance.

“Operations and maintenance begins the moment a piece of equipment hits the site. It’s important that we know how it is stored, how it is installed, and how it is maintained. The commissioning process is an important part that operations and maintenance staff absolutely needs to be involved in,” says Smith.

JA