The evolution of lab-enabled offices

Scientific laboratories have a fascinating history as crucibles for invention and launch pads for breakthroughs. And the evolution of these specialised spaces has been nothing short of remarkable – just consider the difference between conducting experiments in a room at the back of an Apothecary’s premises in the mid-17th century and the sprawling technology-laden campuses of the 21st century.

Laboratories are places where scientists discover new ways to understand the universe and the world we live in. They are the workplaces of Nobel Prize winners as well as the habitat of the unsung heroes of the scientific world such as those working to decode the nuances of cancer diagnosis or develop the next generation of preventative treatments for diabetes or Alzheimer’s.

Today, more than ever before, there is also demand for laboratories to be workplaces that support the wellbeing of their occupants and incorporate lifestyle elements to attract the brightest new talent. This means designing them to be flexible, sustainable, connected to transport, restaurants, and leisure facilities, and most importantly, ensure they facilitate a good work-life balance.

In the second half of the 20th century, the design requirements of these large science and research facilities meant they were generally developed in specialised buildings, typically in out-of-town or city fringe locations. This was partly due to the amount of land area needed for the large floorplates that support scientific endeavours – site area is expensive, and so science parks were more cost-effective when developed outside the city centre.

In addition, public opinion was often an issue, as residents in close proximity to these facilities would raise objections including air quality or perceived human health risks – even if such risks were likely to be minimal. In property development, perception matters to consent authorities. The result was a global trend for laboratories to be built outside city centres, and these remote locations consequently restricted the lifestyle choices for those who worked in them.

Today, the workplaces of the scientific community are making another evolutionary leap, and we are seeing both the return of these facilities to city centres, and the rise of the lab-enabled office – city-centre commercial floorspace that is being retrofitted for the science and technology sectors.

One major driver for this new era of design in the science and technology sector is the battle for talent. In the UK, life sciences real estate in the ‘golden triangle’ university cities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, received a £553 million investment in 2023 according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. Oxford alone has seen a 12% combined annual growth rate in the number of people employed in the sector over the last 5 years. Over a quarter of a million people are now employed in Life Sciences in England alone, a figure that has seen a sustained 6% rise per annum since 2015. According to a 2022 report by the UK Board of Trade, the sector has experienced greater than a twelvefold increase in life sciences finance since 2012 with a staggering £1.9 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) received in 2021. All this has meant that business leaders now want the highest-quality space that will help them to attract the best talent.

This investment is also set to increase as the UK grapples with an ageing population and a rise in lifestyle diseases, with a corresponding trend of demand for advancement in personalised medication tailored specifically for individuals.

In combination, this all signifies a huge opportunity for growth in the sector. Correspondingly, the growing closeness between education institutions and industry is seeing a need to develop facilities alongside pre-eminent universities in cities such as Newcastle and Glasgow that have been struggling with the pipeline of talent flowing to the south of England after graduation. This falls well within the UK Government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda, which aims to create jobs and opportunities for everyone across the country.

It is a clear priority for lab-enabled offices to benefit from proximity to universities, which are often in city-centre locations. Biotech and pharmaceutical companies have long based themselves near higher education campuses to attract graduate scientists, and this is still the case today. However, the Life Sciences industry is now far more entrepreneurial, and competition for the sharpest minds in the industry is fierce. This new tribe of entrepreneurial scientists want high quality, flexible workspaces that enable start-ups and SMEs to rent flexible lab spaces short term. As a result, the turnover in these spaces could be high.

For developers and office-portfolio owners, this growth in demand for labs could not have come at a better time. The percentage of people working from home rose by over 600% after the pandemic, shrinking demand for traditional offices and incentivising more demand for flexible, lab-enabled spaces. We are boldly entering an entirely new phase in the market, and office owners and developers are eager to take advantage.

Technological breakthroughs have enabled this trend too. Traditionally, laboratories featured over-engineered structures in highly specialised buildings that were built to reduce vibration so that optical microscopes could achieve stable images at high magnification levels. Now however, active vibration damping tables (which work in a manner similar to noise-cancelling headphones) are available, and there is less need for laboratories to be built to reduce vibration. This structural design paradigm shift has been a key factor allowing the new class of lab-enabled facilities to emerge and makes it technically feasible for existing office spaces to be converted into laboratory facilities. Without this design restriction, developers in the sector are now also considering more compact sites in urban locations that offer a better lifestyle for those who work in their facilities, and enable leasing flexibility to suit a wider variety of potential tenants.

Bringing labs back into city centres has also been made possible in large measure by the development of flue-dilution technology that can reduce the concentration of potentially harmful fumes that are a byproduct of some scientific research. These need careful design using advanced computational fluid dynamic modelling to determine the required dilution, which has given the consultant engineering community a boost too.

All this leads naturally to the final element driving evolution in the science and technology sector – climate change. Scientists are at the forefront of conversations around climate change and have been for decades. They have been pivotal to making the conversation mainstream, as well as the drive to achieve net zero carbon across all industries. With the built environment responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, the need for the industry to decarbonise is more pressing than ever. This is especially true for the sector, where by necessity and design, buildings were often carbon and energy intensive.

The carbon consciousness is a factor accelerating retrofitting and re-purposing of offices, shopping centres and other buildings as ‘lab-enabled’ offices. This will allow the next generation of scientists to find their niche in workplaces that are not only more sustainable but prioritise wellbeing and enable a good work-life balance.

It is early days - but Life Sciences companies keen to attract and retain talent are starting to develop a richer understanding on what lab-enabled offices should look like. Laboratories need more air movement than offices, so lab-enabled office designs include larger risers to accommodate larger ducts, and increased floor-to-floor dimensions to fit the multitude of services that are required in the ceilings above labs. The key challenge for developers, planners and designers is to work around a lack of available space and ensuring the means to sustainably retrofit those that are available.

While the need for vibration-free structures and tall ventilation flues has reduced, they have not been eliminated completely. Flexibility for future reuse as laboratories was something that has historically been missed from the agenda when designing office buildings, and few were built with this in mind. Now many developers are including this flexibility and adaptability, allowing them to appeal to a wider market, and in the long run, create more sustainable and cost-effective spaces that can be easily transformed to suit todays’ inventive science sector workforce - enabling them to create the breakthroughs of tomorrow.