Laboratory projects don't behave like other building types. Mechanical and electrical services routinely account for sixty per cent or more of the cost, the building envelope is often the least interesting part of the design, and the programme is shaped by validation and commissioning rather than fit-out trades. Our preconstruction work in this sector therefore looks different.

We engage specialist subcontractors during the early cost planning phase rather than waiting for tender: fume cupboards, biological safety cabinets, BMS, HVAC with HEPA filtration and pressure cascades, lab gases. We test the containment level against the architectural strategy, because changes in containment cascade into airlock provisions, room finishes, drainage interception and BMS scope. We pay particular attention to vibration-sensitive equipment locations, wash-down floor specifications, bench manufacturer lead times and the validation programme that has to be threaded into the construction sequence. Where the project is a retrofit into an existing research building, which it often is, we add a hazardous materials survey and decommissioning strategy to the preconstruction package.