If we ignore the cost of the labour that has gone into making the component, we only have material costs left, resulting in limited opportunities to add value.
This has complex implications for mechanical and electrical services.For obvious technical reasons, each client cannot be serviced separately, so each one has to be monitored separately for energy, airflow and water usage..
The existing plant was 20 years old, and at the end of its useful life.But you can’t simply replace an old plant with a new one – mechanical and electrical engineering machines are so much more advanced and efficient now so some take up less space, but others are larger due to the need to reduce energy (for example, air-handling units).We have taken the opportunity to reconfigure the building to some extent.
But in the case of the air handling units, the building was more or less built around them so it was difficult and financially unviable to remove them.So we have taken a mixed replace and refurbish approach to the plant machinery..
But the building management system is all brand new.
We have completely changed the philosophy of how the building operates.Some processes within labs are hazardous or toxic to health, and these are usually communicated to the laboratory design team by the client early in the design phases.
It’s important to ask for all processes being undertaken as to the EHS requirements, as often it affects the laboratory design layout or services design.. For example, consider processes which require either containment or clean room status.In both instances, this means that process, along with perhaps all the other processes within its functional group, will need to be separated physically from the other functional groups and an air pressure differential adhered to.
This directly drives the lab layout, plus the services requirements and the finishes specifications..Hazard studies, conducted with both the users and the laboratory designers present, should identify the major EHS issues with the aim to design out all the risks.