Answers to Facility Issues: Equipment Planning: A Valuable Resource for Laboratory Design
By: Chris Knox and Susan Halla-Borrelli
Issue: February/March 2008
Whether you are building a new facility, renovating, or adding on to an existing
laboratory, equipment planning is an essential tool for the success of your project.
Equipment planning services range from project to project but typically manage
all equipment documentation, details, and requirements for existing and new equipment
that will comprise the future facility. The inherent value of the process was
first widely recognized and successfully utilized in facility planning for the
healthcare industry and is now a part of many forensic projects. With an ever
expanding array of new technologies in laboratories of all types, equipment planning
for the laboratory community is a growing demand. This article will define the
process and explain how your forensic facility can benefit from this value-added
service.
THE EQUIPMENT
Scientific equipment for forensics has become increasingly sophisticated in
recent years, merging multiple advanced technologies with the latest and
greatest of new scientific discovery methods. Much of this equipment has
specific operational tolerances and requires forethought for the design and
construction of its environment. It is the equipment planner’s responsibility
to monitor and understand these requirements to help design more efficient,
sustainable, and optimized facilities.
Laboratory equipment (existing, new,
and future) greatly affects a facility’s
structure. The extents include anything from additional foundation requirements
and structural framing for vibration control to specialized shielding or mechanical,
electrical, and plumbing requirements for the correct and safe installation
of equipment. Having timely equipment information minimizes the risk of costly
redesigns and missed schedules.
When planning for a new forensic facility, it
is never too soon to schedule this service as part of your project. Ideally,
the effort begins as soon as
possible to allow the equipment planner to stay ahead of the facility design.
This ensures that sufficient equipment information is available when needed
by the rest of the design team.
THE PROCESS
The equipment planning process begins early in the programming stage of a project
with a survey of all existing equipment that will be moving to the new facility.
This survey is typically in-depth and can require several days of on-site activity.
The information collected includes the make and model of the equipment, physical
size and associated clearances, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and other
pertinent engineering requirements, as well as photographic documentation.
All of this information is structured into an equipment matrix. The matrix
is refined throughout early Schematic Design to ensure that it is a complete
and accurate representation of the existing equipment.
The next step is to
plan for, recommend, and select new equipment. New equipment research starts
during early Schematic Design and will be further refined throughout Design
Development. New equipment is determined by a number of resources. Programming
documentation about the new facility is used to determine equipment requirements
related to future occupancy and any core function changes from the existing
facility. A thorough review of the existing equipment matrix can reveal
usable information such as preferred manufacturers, a starting point for the
required
quality of new equipment, as well as any other equipment consistencies.
User interviews are the preferred way to select new equipment. These interviews
can often be integrated with an existing equipment review. A suggested
list
of new equipment will be structured into a new equipment matrix. The new
equipment matrix is carefully refined and detailed with open communications
among the equipment planners, users, design team, and potential vendors.
During Design Development, the two equipment matrices —existing and
new — come together into one complete matrix that includes all documented
information about each piece of equipment. The matrix is structured in a way
that allows quick, easy identification of the major parameters for each piece
of equipment. It also references and organizes any associated documents such
as manufacturers’ data sheets, installation guides, and price quote information.
This matrix is used to coordinate all equipment and equipment locations with
the laboratory planner, architects, and engineers involved with the project.
THE VALUE
Equipment planners lend their expertise of new equipment and technology to
the facility and its users. They are exposed to the latest trends and advancements
that help laboratory users navigate the realm of new equipment and the advantages
to their processes. The equipment planner serves as an intermediary to the
users, meeting with vendors when necessary and determining what, if anything,
the users themselves need to see. This benefit minimizes the time that users
are away from their primary work functions, while still allowing them to
provide valuable input. Another benefit is the coordination of equipment
throughout the design process. This produces a synchronized set of documents
for the bidding process, leading to a tighter bid and less construction change
orders from the field.
All too often, a facility staff plans to take on the equipment
planning responsibility themselves. However, this often proves to be an overwhelming
task. The laboratory planner, architect, and engineers tend to get untimely,
insufficient information; thus, the laboratory user is burdened with yet another
job on top of other daily tasks. On a recent project, The Armed Forces Institute
of Pathology (AFIP) determined they would perform their own equipment survey.
The survey period lingered for three months. When all of the surveys were finally
collected, the AFIP realized that each person had used a different method to
survey their own lab space. The individual results were very difficult, if
not impossible, to coordinate. Since the Institute did not want to accept the
risk of faulty information, they contracted equipment planning services.
Sometimes
it is difficult to get approval for equipment planning services. Mr. Stan
Rich, Capital Planning Liaison for the Capital Development Board for
the State of Illinois, had this issue while overseeing the design of a new
forensics laboratory for Illinois State Police. Initially, the State of Illinois
determined the laboratory staff should be responsible for equipment planning
for the proposed new facility. However, upon further reflection, they found
that the State would ultimately save money by contracting these services.
The State realized that the equipment planner would provide an outside, impartial
opinion and had exposure to new and diverse products. The State felt it was
their job to run a laboratory, not plan one. In particular, the State recognized
the financial savings they would gain by not increasing backlog, which would
certainly have occurred had they spent time on the equipment planning process.
An
equipment planner can help determine a facility’s equipment budget
for capital expenditures. Initial planning for equipment costs has a general
rule-of-thumb for 30% of the projected building costs. By creating a detailed
equipment matrix, new equipment can be assigned a more accurate budgetary figure.
The equipment planning process can also help the facility plan for capital
expenditures by working with the facility to phase future equipment and project
budgets for future purchases.
Moving existing equipment into your new forensic
facility can be a very challenging coordination effort. The equipment matrix,
used in conjunction with project
drawings, can be an accurate guide to moving equipment. With thorough planning,
equipment locations (existing and new) will already have been determined and
can be used as a directive by the facility mover. The result is a faster, less
complicated move with minimal laboratory down time.
Equipment planning is a
vital component for forensic laboratory design. The process strengthens the
working relationship between the architect, engineer,
and client; promoting a highly coordinated design effort. For the first time,
laboratory form, function, and support are viewed as a whole with an understanding
of the equipment requirements. The result is an optimized and sustainable facility
customized for the laboratory’s processes.
Chris Knox is an equipment planner with Crime Lab Design, which provides full
A/E services for forensic and medical examiner facilities. He is currently
working on various forensic projects, including the General Department of Criminal
Evidence Headquarters in Kuwait. Contact Chris at chrisk@crimelabdesign.com.
Susan Halla-Borrelli is a project leader and laboratory planner with Crime
Lab Design. She is currently working on various forensic projects across the
country. Susan may be contacted at susanhb@crimelabdesign.com.
