Unlocking potential: Sustainable design strategies for inner-city life science ecosystems
by Ioannis Rizos, Associate Director
The UK’s Golden Triangle, encompassing Oxford, Cambridge and London, remains one of the world’s leading life-science clusters. With exceptional global transport links, renowned universities, and a post-Covid surge in life science research investment, the sector attracted approximately £5.8bn between 2021 and 2023.
While there has been a notable shift towards city locations, out-of-town life-science campuses continue to play a crucial role in the industry, offering space and flexibility that urban sites may struggle to provide. Both city and out-of-town campuses meet different needs, and together they ensure the life-science sector has the capacity to innovate and grow. That said, £1.1bn of capital was deployed into life science-related assets in London, highlighting the growing appeal of inner-city locations, including access to cultural and commercial attractions that make them appealing to young professionals, enhancing talent recruitment and retention. Additionally, shorter commutes and the opportunity for active travel and public transport use contribute to reducing carbon emissions.
Urban life science developments, however, do face challenges. The limited availability of land in cities often necessitates the retrofitting of existing buildings to meet the specialised demands of modern life science projects.
Over the last decade, Atelier Ten has developed a portfolio of urban life science buildings, working with architects, developers, and users to deliver innovative, tailored solutions across the globe.
Wherever possible, reuse!
If a building has enough structural capacity and floor-to-ceiling height, retrofitting is often the best option. It can save embodied carbon emissions and reduce both construction time and disruption. However, some challenges still need to be addressed.
Natural daylight is essential for creating a healthy and productive laboratory. It helps employees regulate their circadian rhythms, boosts cognitive performance, improves mood, reduces stress, and increases visual comfort. Daylight can also reduce energy use by minimising the need for artificial lighting.
However, many older buildings set for retrofit, such as offices or shopping malls, have deep floor plates and poor window configurations. This can cause glare and visual discomfort. Various strategies, including lightwells, redesigning facades, creating open-plan spaces, or adding shading to balance daylight levels and reduce glare and heat can help tackle these problems.
Working on the Building Cure project in Seattle, Atelier Ten studied the building’s façade to optimise the window-to-wall ratio, glazing transparency, and shading to leading to a 50% reduction in glare and maximising usable daylight.
Mechanical ventilation and airflow pose another challenge. Labs need specific systems for pollutant control, air purity, and temperature and humidity control. HVAC systems can be heavy or bulky, which could either overwhelm the structure or reduce the commercial viability of the space. Reinforcing floorplates can help with the weight issue, but the bulk requires careful planning.
Labs typically require six air changes per hour, depending on their purpose. Space for airflow distribution can be limited in older buildings. Well-designed variable air volume systems and demand-controlled ventilation can adjust air based on real-time occupancy, reducing energy use, while heat recovery systems, even from lab hoods, can further conserve energy.
Improving the building envelope and using high-efficiency mechanical systems can further reduce energy use while meeting specific lab needs. During a refurbishment at the Biomolecular Sciences Building at the University of St. Andrews, we improved energy efficiency for a lab designed for battery research, where an ultra-low humidity environment was required for sensitive materials.
University of St Andrews Biomolecular Sciences Building. Photo: Bill Ritchie
Building from Scratch
New buildings provide architects and engineers with the opportunity to reduce environmental impacts at every stage. Belgrove House is a new-build office and laboratory in London’s Knowledge Quarter. As the M&E and sustainability engineers on the project, we conducted a full life-cycle carbon assessment to optimise the structure and reduce embodied carbon. The building features a double-skin façade with greenery, allowing for opening windows and views through the plants, which combine performance and well-being benefits.
Belgrove House Environmental Strategies
Belgrove House also uses an advanced heat recovery system that achieves much higher efficiency than typical systems, contributing to a 40% reduction in operational carbon emissions. Similar systems can be deployed in retrofit buildings too.
New builds also make it easier to manage structural and environmental vibrations, which is costly and difficult to address in retrofits.
Life science facilities can thrive in urban areas, moving away from rural settings. Knowledge clusters of new, extended, and refurbished buildings can house a variety of laboratories. These labs complement one another by playing to the strengths of each building, improving employee well-being, collaboration, and interdisciplinary research. It’s up to design teams to maximise each structure’s potential, ensuring construction and operational carbon efficiencies are fully realised.
Manhattan College Higgins Engineering & Science Center. Photo: Albert Vecerka
Ioannis is an Associate Director in Atelier Ten. He has a solid background in engineering and experience in developing /coordinating environmental design solutions for projects across architectural, quantity surveying and MEP design domains. Get in touch with him here.
Explore more of Atelier Ten’s life sciences projects here.