Laboratory planning

Laboratories, and the tools and methods used in them, have been changing rapidly, in keeping with brisk scientific and technological progress. In one type of change, small, highly partitioned laboratory-room units are frequently giving way to large, open working areas. Such new "laboratory landscapes" support synergies in workflows, and they can be flexibly adjusted to users' modification requirements. Such flexibility is a particularly important aspect for interdisciplinary research centers, which often vary the scope and combination of their working methods. In addition, many types of laboratory equipment have a life cycle of only about 3 years (building services and equipment usually have life cycles of at least 15 years). What's more, as of 2018 all new public buildings in the EU have to be designed as "very low energy" or "zero energy" buildings, and they have to meet part of their thermal energy requirements via use of renewable energies. The key aims in planning laboratory facilities thus include reducing energy consumption to a minimum, without putting any constraints on laboratory work. ZWP Ingenieur-AG develops sustainable laboratory concepts by intensively analyzing specific usage requirements and laboratory facilities' life cycles. In each case, it produces a sustainable solution by studying the building itself, its building services and its installed equipment as an integral whole.

• Planning and realization of laboratories conforming to security levels S1, S2 and S3 and cleanrooms
• Cutting-edge laboratory concepts that take proper account of all technical standards (e.g. for ventilation and air conditioning systems)
• Supplying the media required for experimental work (water, gases, compressed air, vacuum, electrical energy)
• Removal of waste media (wastewater, waste heat)
• Space-requirements analysis: Decisions on organizing and routing of installation cables for building services
• Optimal room partitioning: Zoning into highly equipped/specialized and less-equipped/more-general useage areas
• Reversible structures for building services, flexible usage and fast adaptations
• Optimal perational procedures, high-qulity workspaces and high safety standards
• Low oprational and maintenance costs
• Sustainable energy concepts; high environmental standards