"We wanted to create a stage for modern science that is not only interactive, highly serviced, and very adaptable, but also repeatable and easily expanded," says Dr. Greg Parish, director of Strategic Facilities Planning for GlaxoSmithKline's European R&D division.

GSK initially implemented the FlexiLab approach with a series of reconfigurations at its ten-year-old R&D facility in Stevenage, UK. At the Stevenage site, smaller labs previously separated by a network of fixed casing and pipes were combined and turned into open interactive flexible research space capable of supporting 20 researchers per lab.

"Many older research buildings, and even some designed today, have a lot of pipe work running around bespoke casework. The problem with this design is that it costs a considerable amount of money every time you want to change something," says Parish.

By merging traditional 12-person laboratories, plus their associated office/write-up space, into larger open multi-use research spaces, GSK increased researcher occupancy in the same space by 50 percent.

Reducing Complexity

A key component of the FlexiLab design is the use of pre-assembled modular units (PAMs), which facilitate an endless number of room layouts by delivering communication, power, fume, and general building services throughout the facility via a matrix of ceiling-mounted connector pods. GSK achieves very high degrees of repeatability and quality control by producing and testing the PAMs, and their connecter pods, off-site.

"We have simply reduced complexity by stripping out all the casework, pipework, and detail, and replacing it with a much simpler design, with a faster implementation time that produces significant cost benefits," says Steve Hartles, Capital Projects Director for GSK R&D Europe and International.

GSK commissioned the design of the PAMs so that fabrication work can be done by any competent mechanical engineering contractor in the region of the new facilities.

"We bought the design once. We know it works and, as a result, it will save us considerable time and money on subsequent projects," says Hartles.

Full Scale Flexibility

Though the philosophy behind modular, loose-fit labs started at GSK's Stevenage site, the strategy was constrained by the building's preexisting structure.

With the design of GSK's new Discovery Research Automation Facility (DRAF) at the company's Harlow site in Essex, UK, designers were able to fully capitalize on the FlexiLab principles. The £28-million ($57-million) project, which is part of a global program to automate key stages of drug discovery, was built specifically around the idea of creating configurable research space. It will house some 300 employees when full and contains the largest chemistry lab in the UK as well as large robotic sample stores

"We wanted to ensure that every floor was identical and could be used for pretty much anything; the real concept of the building was to create one large laboratory," says Parish.

Working with construction engineering firm Bovis Lend Lease, GSK extended the shell of the DRAF complex to maximize use of PAM-delivered services, and create large spans capable of accommodating open labs that can be used for virtually any purpose.

In order to fully capitalize on the use of PAMs and moveable ceiling-mounted connector pods, designers opted for an innovative side-plant design. One entire side of the building is plant and ventilation space so that each floor has its own services, which are then extended across the room at ceiling height and modified depending on use.

"We ended up bringing all the services in on one side of the building, instead of the roof, so that each floor essentially has its own independent plant and ventilation system," says Hartles.

Off-site construction and testing of the 39-metre-long PAMs allowed for overlap with ongoing construction work, reducing the overall installation time by more than four months and saving GSK an estimated $800,000.

Previously unattainable levels of flexibility are achieved by combining modular services with movable fume cupboards and no fixed furniture. Under this model, space can be reconfigured to suit different research needs in a matter of hours.

"We can modify internal laboratory designs in days rather than weeks, with no added costs. In fact, I've looked at the records twice and can't find any cost for changing a thing in the Harlow building since it opened," says Harltes.

GSK took all of the lessons learned in their Harlow DRAF building and incorporated them in a sister building in Philadelphia. "We made this approach our way of doing things and the fact that we met low levels of resistance confirms our belief in the approach," says Hartles. Flexilab designs are now being implemented at other UK and U.S. facilities as well as Singapore and Japan.

Designed to Adapt

Development of the DRAF facility at the Harlow site was also an opportunity for GSK to learn about the FlexiLab approach.

"In the UK, write-up/office space must be in a separate area for safety and code reasons. When the group working on this began to see the designs, they realized we could get more people and instrumentation into the area and they asked for an extra 50 write-up spaces. So what started out as an office floor plan for 27 people, changed to more than 70," says Parish.

To accommodate this change late in the design stage, office space was placed along the opposite wall of the building from the plant side, but support services and vinyl flooring run the entire length of the room. Office spaces are carpeted and separated from the lab by a glazed partition, but they can be transformed into laboratory space at any point.

Interaction Breeds Innovation

In addition to creating more flexible research facilities, GSK wanted to increase worker innovation and productivity.

"Most good innovators, whether teams or individuals, are those who spend a lot of time interacting with others. In a traditional lab, people are focused on the group around them. When you move them into an open laboratory space they will inevitably interact more with other teams and exchange ideas," says Parish.

GSK's initial post-occupancy studies show that there is an estimated 15 percent higher level of scientific productivity in both the medium and the large FlexiLab buildings.

In addition to increased collaboration among research teams, Parish explains that another unique feature of open laboratory space is the idea of "visual eavesdropping."

"When people can see what is going on, they are much more comfortable sharing equipment and space, because the environment is inherently more collaborative," he says.

For example, under the previous paradigm every researcher had two fume cupboards, each of which had a small sink with fresh cold water supply.

"When we actually looked at water usage, it was primarily being used for cooling condensers. In the FlexiLab design we provide a simple system that re-circulates chilled water specifically for condensers, and there is a sink about every tenth fume cupboard. If somebody needs one, they go to a cupboard with a sink in it. There are just far less of them," says Harltes.

Costs and Benefits

When designers talk about creating flexible laboratories there are sometimes concerns about higher costs. GSK benchmarked the DRAF facility independently with UK accountants who compared it with recent projects in the same area.

"The mean for all laboratory buildings in the UK at that time was £2,080 ($3,956) a square meter, and the Harlow site cost approximately £2,100 ($3,994) per square meter. It might have cost us £20 ($38) a square meter more, but £20 a square meter is well worth the added cost benefits. So it's not necessarily any more expensive," says Hartles.

"With the FlexiLab design, it can be a high-throughput chemistry lab; it can be offices; it can be a biology lab. The space can be used for whatever we need, so why would we want to build anything else?" says Parish.

By Johnathon Allen