AstraZeneca Lab4Life

Flexible labs to transform the way that biomedical specialists work

Location

Gothenburg, Sweden

Client

AstraZeneca

Project Status

Completed in 2021

Project partners

T+E Architects Ramboll Labflex

Laboratories usually study life at a molecular rather than a cultural level. But at its Gothenburg headquarters, AstraZeneca is creating one of the world’s most innovative R&D sites by focusing on the scientists as much as the science. The idea behind the Lab4Life programme is to stimulate collaboration between scientists from different therapy areas in order to accelerate the development of life-changing medicines. To this end, the facility brings together ten Centres of Excellence – including Chemistry, Mass Spectrometry and Sample Management – in a new environment of flexible labs, shared offices and multifunctional spaces.

WSP provided project management and electrical expertise, among other services, on the first phase of the project, which consolidated a number of disconnected laboratories into the new shared facility. In total, this involved 32 redevelopment projects across eight properties, with two new connecting passages between buildings. As well as improving collaboration, the flexible lab will use space more efficiently and improve the use rate of advanced biomedical instruments.

The electrical design had to support a changing power load, including a number of cutting-edge technologies, such as the world’s first fully acoustic tube platform, an innovation that enables samples to be managed by sound waves, dramatically improving the speed and precision of drug screening.

It also had to be inherently adaptable to different processes and modes of working, rather than approaching laboratories as sophisticated sealed boxes. Instead of fitting out the spaces with separate systems, WSP installed a total room automation system, designed specifically for life sciences, which intelligently combines heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and shade control into a single platform. This responds dynamically to occupancy and is easily adapted to different demands, balancing comfort, safety and energy efficiency with the needs of diverse medical disciplines – as well as the unknown needs of future drug discoveries.

WSP also had to provide flexible, future-proof electrical installations to all laboratory benches, always mindful that many of these were shared between different specialisms. The new approach to laboratory design also had a knock-on effect for fire safety, requiring WSP to update the design and develop new procedures.