POST-COVID-19 | LABS IN OFFICES FROM BBC TO BIO In last months CIBSE Journal, we highlighted how conventional office space in central London was being repurposed for teaching by academic institutions. This month, Andy Pearson looks at how offices are being repurposed as research laboratories for cutting-edge life-sciences businesses L ast autumn, the first scientists working for pioneering biotech company Engitix Therapeutics moved into their new laboratory in The WestWorks building, part of the White City Place development in West London. The drug-discovery companys new 800m2 headquarters includes tissue-culture rooms, decellularisation rooms (where cells are removed from organs), a fridge-freezer room, and an autoclave/ utility room, plus write-up spaces and offices. Engitix is at the cutting edge of scientific endeavour; were carrying out world-class science, so we need world-class facilities, says Stephen Brindle, chief operating officer at Engitix. Engitix joins other leading life-sciences businesses including Synthace, GammaDelta and Mapletree on the fourth floor of The WestWorks building. What makes this arrangement unusual is that this scientific endeavour is taking place in an office building that previously housed the BBC. More surprising still is that the other floors are occupied by more conventional office-based businesses. It looks like a grade A office when you enter on the ground floor but, if you go up to the fourth floor, you are entering a proper laboratory environment, says Richard Beer, executive engineer at Sweco. Sweco designed the building services for Engitixs new facilities. It was also the engineer responsible for The WestWorks base-build services design, following an extensive refurbishment in 2017 after the building was purchased from the BBC by developer Stanhope. In addition, Sweco designed the subsequent Cat A fit-out of the six floors of offices that circle the buildings central courtyard. Fit-out of the floors included removal of the suspended ceilings to reveal concrete soffits, and installation of an underfloor displacement ventilation system, with perimeter trench heating and cooling. The system is served by roof-mounted boilers, air handling units (AHUs) and air-cooled chillers. The displacement system is designed to provide cooling to the office floors, while the perimeter units temper conditions at the edge of the floors on both the outer and inner courtyard elevations, explains Beer. Stanhope anticipates growing demand for space from biotech firms THE TENANTS PERSPECTIVE Synthace is an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, biologists and mathematicians pioneering new ways of working in biology, says Adam Tozer, head of marketing at the company. It develops software to enable scientists to run powerful, automated experiments, generating datasets that are appropriate for sophisticated analysis. The ofce and lab space on offer at The WestWorks were a big draw, and we were excited to become neighbours with other pioneering bioscience companies in White City, such as Novartis, Autolus and GammaDelta Therapeutics. Despite being a software company, we also have a wet lab, where our team of scientists use our software platform, Antha, to automate sophisticated liquid-handling robots. Our lab contains everything you might see in the lab of a biotech rm, including a cell-culture facility. This requires us to run a lot of scientic equipment and specialist installations, such as fume hoods and ultra-low temperature freezers, as well as to have the capability to handle scientic material and waste. Our labs are designed with total exibility in mind, allowing us to draw on power and gas supplied from the ceiling, so we can create automation islands and recreate our clients workstations. In specifying the lab, we needed to include three-phase power, a reinforced oor area for heavy equipment, and greatly enhanced air handling. Safety systems are built into the lab, and we worked with the landlord to build in safe gas handling and storage and waste disposal routes. 30 January 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jan21 pp30-32 Life sciences.indd 30 18/12/2020 17:07