Setting up a new laboratory
What it takes to set up a laboratory and the office space around it: the decisions, the sequence, and the mistakes that cost the most.
Before you start
Five decisions that shape everything after
1. What science runs here, and what comes next
Hood counts, bench metres, utility loads and containment all follow from the protocols. Designing for today only is the most expensive shortcut in lab planning.
2. The building you are starting from
Bare site, existing shell or operating lab: each carries different constraints on floor height, structural load, service routing and shutdown windows.
3. How much of the space is not laboratory
On a typical R&D floor plate, close to half is write-up, office, meeting and amenity space. Planning it late is how projects lose coherence and budget.
4. Which standards you will be audited against
NABL, GLP, GMP or ISO 14644 requirements change layout, finishes and airflow. Retrofitting compliance costs far more than designing for it.
5. Who owns which budget
Lab capex and office fit-out are often held by different teams. Deciding scope early avoids two consultants designing one building.
See it before you build it
Walk through full-scale lab configurations, materials and airflow strategies at our Technical Centre in Thane before committing capex.
Thirty minutes with a lab design specialist is usually worth more than another article.