The disruption that can occur when moving laboratories can be intimidating. Moving expensive and sensitive equipment, decommissioning and recalibrating machinery, and the disruption to research and deadlines often mean labs delay relocating for too long. There are circumstances when staying put may cost more than taking the plunge and moving labs.
This guide looks at the triggers for lab relocation and the considerations when planning the move.
Benchmark Services are specialists in laboratory relocation. If you’re considering a move, speak to our team and rely on our expertise.
Signs that you may need to move labs
You’ve outgrown the available space to work efficiently
Limited space affects laboratory productivity. When storage for reagents and samples begins to run short, and your colleagues are feeling cramped into their workstations, the output from the laboratory begins to decline. If the demand for your services is growing as well, then space suddenly becomes a top investment.
If you see your workload ramping up while your laboratory feels ever smaller, then it’s time to consider relocation.
We can help you relocate even when space to manoeuvre is limited. Find out more about lab relocations here.
Your current facility threatens your accreditations or compliance
The regulations governing your lab space are constantly changing, and you must remain compliant to ensure the safety of your staff and the integrity of your work. If containment or ventilation specifications change, or waste handling becomes an issue, then relocating the laboratory may be the most practical route vs a refit that still disrupts operations but falls short of the next change in regulations.
The current building infrastructure cannot support your equipment
High-end medical and research equipment often needs strong foundations, free from vibrations, with a stable power supply and climate control. Load-bearing floors need to be strong enough to take the weight of MRI machines or mass spectrometers, while ULT freezers or LN2 cryogenics require stable power supplies to maintain critical temperatures.
Retrofitting an existing space to update or compensate for poor facilities is costly and short-term; in time, those updates will require further investment and more disruption. Moving to a modern facility comes at an immediate cost but offers more certainty in the long term.
Find out how we helped Nottingham University relocate ULT freezers.
Access and location are no longer fit for purpose
Location is an incredibly important aspect of team building, resource management and access, both physically to the laboratory and access to talent. An inability to recruit the right expertise and constant restrictions to the site will compound over time and lead to reduced performance across the board.
End of lease or changes to building use
Sometimes the decision to move is taken out of your hands. It may be that the laboratory’s lease is coming to an end, and this can be the opportunity needed to upgrade facilities. Changes to the use of buildings may also prompt a need to relocate elsewhere.
Benchmark Services will work with your project teams to ensure any relocation occurs within the terms of the lease, ensuring you don’t incur any expensive penalties for delays in moving labs. Find out more about our excellent team here.
What you should consider when planning your lab move
Moving labs is complex and should be carefully planned well in advance of your proposed date. The nature of the equipment, samples and precision employed by laboratory teams means there are greater risks in moving, and ad hoc decisions have a greater impact when they go wrong.
Our teams provide a full site visit and will assign a relocation project manager to the move to work in partnership with your team.
Auditing equipment and understanding movement specifications
Laboratory equipment is highly calibrated, and a relocation to a new laboratory can result in damage to samples, results being compromised, and productivity dropping significantly.
Taking an audit of the type of equipment, the fragility, age of the units, and their decommissioning and calibration requirements will help plan their removal and installation at the point of use in the new building. Knowing details pertinent to the move, such as the mass of each piece of equipment and the sensitivity to vibrations, temperature changes or impacts, will also ensure the team can be completely prepared on moving day.
Benchmark Services can help you assess the moving requirements for your equipment, plus provide services for de-commissioning, recycling and installation on site. Speak to our team here.
Planning the right time to move labs
Lab relocation has a massive impact on operational performance during the planning period, the move itself and then afterwards as employees get the laboratory in order and up and running.
The key to a successful moving day is to plan to mitigate these impacts well ahead of schedule. For instance, Benchmark Services will often access the site and move equipment out-of-work hours, avoiding costly delays due to traffic and movement restrictions, and ensuring that staff can work to the last minute and suffer the shortest amount of downtime possible.
Benchmark Services moved Salience Labs out of hours to fit their very tight schedule and ensure productivity was back to normal as soon as possible. Find out how here.
Installation direct to point of use and recalibration
When planning the relocation of your laboratory, consider where the delivery team will leave equipment or machinery before finishing their work on site. Often, a logistics team will only deliver to a loading bay or docking point. You and your team may then be left to move incredibly heavy and delicate machinery to your new lab, which might be on the first floor.
A specialist laboratory relocation team, such as Benchmark Services, will work with your project team to identify the point of use for each piece of equipment or machinery. We will then provide a full last-mile service, ensuring the machine is exactly where you want it, ready for recalibration and installation, before we leave.
We also specialise in restricted access deliveries – such as first floors. To find out how we do this, read about our recent project relocating ULT freezers in a difficult-to-reach area.
Choosing the right partner to move labs
A general removal company may not be the right choice for moving your laboratory equipment. Many businesses will claim to be experts in relocations but won’t have the decades of experience that a true specialist will have.
Benchmark Services has over twenty-five years of experience in laboratory moves. We start with a site survey at both the lab you’re leaving and your new premises, and we will also assess the route in between. We will assist with your equipment and machinery audit, including your furniture and glassware, because we provide a full service, whatever you need moving. We can recommend calibration and decommissioning specialists, and if you’re having new equipment delivered to the new laboratory, we can help you recycle the old ones.
A laboratory relocation specialist is more than putting items in a lorry and moving to the next loading bay. If you’re at the stage when you’re assessing your current laboratory, then please contact our team. We will provide advice based on experience built over two and a half decades.
Case Studies:
Delivery and Installation of Biomedical Freezers to Birmingham Health Innovation Campus
An example of successful laboratory relocation – Salience Labs
Freezer transportation for the University of Nottingham
Relocating your laboratory: Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a laboratory relocation typically take?
There is no hard and fast rule on the length of a lab move. Several factors will influence the time to completion, such as the volume of equipment, whether both sites are open and ready, whether the project is phased or completed in one move, and the time it takes to decommission equipment ready for relocation. The earlier you begin the planning process and involve a lab relocation expert, the easier it is to fix a firm timescale on your lab move.
Can a laboratory be relocated while research is still ongoing?
We can help you build a phased approach into the project timeline. In some projects, a phased move can delay or lessen the impact on productivity, whereas in others, such as our lab move for Salience Labs in Oxford, there was a clear tight deadline and a single relocation phase was essential. Speak to our team, and they can help with your planning.
H3: Can we store equipment or machinery if our new location isn’t ready yet?
Benchmark Services can provide short-term warehouse storage, specifically tailored for laboratory moves. We can ensure temperature control, level storage on strengthened flooring, and provide power to systems if required. This means if you need a halfway house to store your laboratory products and equipment between locations, then we can fully support you. Ask our team about warehousing and storage here.