Share thisWhile never as simple as 1,2,3, some important “lessons learned” in biocontainment facility planning and design can help work the numbers in your favor.
Five or so years ago, a good friend, Jim Orzechowski, and I made a presentation at the American Biological Safety Association meeting on our “Top Ten Lessons Learned in Biocontainment Facility Design.” Jim passed away a year or so ago and I felt it would be appropriate to his memory to turn our presentation into an article to allow others to benefit from our lively internal debates and the end result of our discussions. It was one of my most memorable presentations because the computer would not project the images on the slides, so Jim and I had to ad-lib the presentation without visual aids. Those of you who knew Jim will understand that this did not put him at a loss for words.
While we did not create a David Letterman “Top 10 List” of ascending order (we both felt that all the issues were equally important), we did generally agree on what we felt were the most important issues to allow a successful project outcome. Our “Top 10” are:
Lesson Learned #1: Plan for Constructability
Biocontainment involves both architectural and engineering systems that are out of the norm of typical laboratory construction. As one moves up in level from BSL-3 to Enhanced BSL-3 to BSL-3Ag to BSL-4, the use of normal construction materials, methods, and procedures are stretched and the ability of the typical design team and construction team is challenged.
There are three steps that can help drive the successful outcome of biocontainment projects:
1. Plan for constructability: Think about the use of materials and equipment and consider how they will achieve the desired results. If you are planning to seal a facility to a certain level, how will you seal that particular element? How will the joints or seams be treated? Is there an unusual construction sequence required? What are the tolerances? Will the tolerances achieve the desired results? Are unusual application procedures required? What testing might be required to verify results? Work closely with the contractor and subcontractor market to answer these and other questions before the project is priced and construction begins.
2. Mock-up unusual construction: For any items of unusual construction, require a mock-up to be constructed to verify construction procedures and identify required end results. Mock-ups might be stand alone systems or rooms for very unusual conditions, or be built-in to the finished construction if end results are to be demonstrated through the mock-up. They also might be as simple as a light fixture with a small piece of gypsum board attached, demonstrating how the fixture will be sealed to the ceiling. Items that might be considered are wall construction, joints, sealing methods, systems, controls, finishes, and any other unusual items. For very unusual items, it may be helpful to have bidders build mock-ups prior to submitting bids. This allows the market to understand the difficulty of the work and the acceptable end results.
3. Closely monitor construction: For both architectural and engineering systems, containment facilities require a higher level of fitting and tolerance than most other facilities. This makes removal and replacement of defective work more difficult and time consuming as the difficulty in achieving the required end result increases significantly with rework. Monitor the installation to detect quality issues early, before they impact final quality, cost, and schedule.