Deciding whether to construct a new laboratory facility or renovate an existing building requires more than a comparison of cost and schedule. Design teams and facility stakeholders must also evaluate how each option will support occupant health, safety, welfare, operational performance, and long-term adaptability.
Join Flad Principals Ben de Rubertis and Stuart Lewis for a webinar that explores a structured framework for assessing new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse strategies through the lens of laboratory infrastructure, regulatory compliance, environmental quality, risk management, and future scientific needs. Drawing on real world project examples, the session examines how factors such as ventilation capacity, hazardous material requirements, access to daylight, collaboration spaces, building systems, and operational continuity influence project outcomes.
Attendees will learn how to evaluate existing facilities, identify limitations that may affect safety and well-being, and develop strategies to maintain safe, compliant conditions during construction and occupancy. The discussion will also highlight approaches for creating flexible, human-centered laboratory environments that support evolving research programs while enhancing occupant experience, sustainability, and long-term facility value.
Learning objectives:
- Create and apply a structured evaluation framework to assess whether new construction, renovation, or adaptive reuse best supports laboratory occupant health, safety, welfare, operational needs, regulatory compliance, and future growth.
- Evaluate how building infrastructure, environmental systems, hazardous material requirements, code compliance, and existing facility conditions influence the safety, performance, and long-term viability of laboratory environments.
- Compare the impacts of new construction and renovation strategies on occupant well-being, including indoor environmental quality, access to daylight, collaboration opportunities, operational continuity, and adaptability to future research needs.
- Identify planning, phasing, and risk-management strategies that maintain safe, compliant conditions for occupants, researchers, construction personnel, and facility operations during renovation and construction activities.
This webinar is approved by AI CES for 1 LU/HSW credit.
