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The UK鈥檚 world-leading life sciences industry produces medical technology, diagnostics and digital tools, as well as pharmaceutical products for consumer health in facilities up and down the country. 

Worth in excess of 拢70bn a year, the sector employs nearly a quarter of a million people, including scientists, researchers and clinicians. 

Such is the industry鈥檚 reputation that it鈥檚 a magnet for significant inward investment. As recently as last month Abu Dhabi-based investment fund Mubadala announced it would pump 拢800m into the sector, backed by a further 拢200m from the UK government.

Meanwhile the covid pandemic has thrown the importance of life sciences into sharp focus, and UK construction has been working tirelessly to deliver facilities and manufacturing hubs that develop and manufacture the drugs and other medical paraphernalia that are crucial to the nation鈥檚 health and wellbeing.

好色先生TV, with international consultant Linesight, gathered a group of industry experts to discuss developments in the life sciences arena, evolving R&D and manufacturing facilities, how the construction sector can deliver projects using innovation and technology, and the challenges the life sciences industry faces.

A sector in vibrant health

Chairing the meeting, 好色先生TV鈥檚 technical editor Thomas Lane kicked off proceedings by asking for views around the table on the current state of play in the life sciences sector. 

Michael Riordan, Linesight鈥檚 UK managing director, believed the industry was in vibrant health and remained an essential part of the UK economy, in spite of Brexit. 鈥淟ife sciences is one of those key industries that helps us  take advantage of some of the opportunities arising from Brexit, but also helps us recover from the damage to the economy caused by the pandemic.鈥�

With concerns around the delivery of pharmaceutical products due to both Brexit and covid, Steve Townsend, project controls director at GSK, wanted to offer reassurance around surety of delivery. 

Much of the business has continued as normal. But surety of delivery is really important to us

Steve Townsend, GSK

鈥淵es, covid has impacted this, but it will become less so going forward. Much of the business has continued as normal. But surety of delivery is really important to us,鈥� he said.  

Covid has taught the world about the fragility of the global supply chain, according to Antonio Crincoli, head of global engineering at Viatris. 鈥淚n my world, it came down to: what was [previously] a distributed supply chain across the globe has now became very localised. 

鈥淪o where you had manufacturing that was centralised in, say, certain parts of the world like China and India, now Europe and the US are all looking to manufacture locally; that鈥檚 driven entirely different perspective on economics and availability.鈥�

A shortage of space

While commercial property had taken a hit in recent times, life sciences remained relatively unscathed, Linesight鈥檚 Riordan said. 鈥淟aboratory vacancy rates remain very low both in Oxford and in Cambridge. So then you鈥檒l use secondary areas in and around Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester.  Tier two areas like Birmingham and Liverpool are now attracting a lot of interest from venture capital. This shows huge confidence in the market, even post covid, and is very positive for the industry鈥檚 future.鈥�

Meanwhile, Peter Dudley, a director at architect Scott Tallon Walker, believed there would be an increasing relationship between industry and university in terms of research. 

鈥淚 see university campuses becoming far more industry orientated as they develop. Rather than the universities being primarily government institutions, they will become amalgamated with industry, creating personalised and smaller sector demand.鈥�

Life sciences is one of those key industries that helps us  take advantage of some of the opportunities arising from Brexit, but also helps us recover from the damage to the economy caused by the pandemic 

Michael Riordan, Linesight

As well as this more responsive approach, the meeting participants acknowledged that clusters of manufacturing near hospitals or other points of demand might also become a trend within the life sciences sector.

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好色先生TV鈥檚 Tom Lane then asked about the specific requirements of a life sciences building.

GSK鈥檚 Townsend chipped in, suggesting it could be a facility that had 鈥渁n in-built agility to match what鈥檚 happening in the real world鈥�. It could be a new building, or a suitably repurposed one, he added. Either way, it had to be flexible, he stressed. 

Viatris鈥檚 Crincoli said that where once high-throughput manufacturing facilities used to be custom made, today smaller buildings are being delivered. 鈥淲e鈥檙e scaling out instead of scaling up, using much smaller equipment that is semi-automated, based around modules, being able to use plug-and-play equipment that can be adapted for use anywhere.鈥�

Delivery challenges

The issue of delivery then arose, and the challenges of getting planning for a life sciences facility. Kevin Burdett, EMEA director of design at Integrated Project Services, said planning was rarely an issue. 鈥淲ith the jobs created and these facilities saving lives, the potential for these schemes is easy to spot. The important thing for the clients is getting the drugs out to market as quickly as possible, as is the process and making sure the equipment is right.鈥�

Budget considerations for life sciences buildings are hugely important, but Clare Emery, sector lead for education, science and research at Laing O鈥橰ourke, said that while in the past such buildings would have been highly specified, newcomers to the market will be more flexible.

I think we鈥檙e going to see a different type of product coming through, one that is less highly specified

Clare Emery, Laing O鈥橰ourke

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e going to see a different type of product coming through, one that is less highly specified. There may be opportunities for the standardisation of solutions to maximise the benefits of modern methods of construction (MMC) and using pre-manufactured products.鈥�

As far as IPS鈥檚 Burdett was concerned, the focus would be around the internal specification, rather than the shell. 鈥淭he external building can be a shed or warehouse. The cleanroom environment is what clients are most interested in. More and more, we鈥檙e seeing clients buy a big warehouse space and then look to repurpose that into a manufacturing facility for a drug product.鈥�

MMC

This prompted a discussion around the scope of MMC for the life sciences sector.

While many facilities were understandably bespoke, there were opportunities to design, develop and deliver solutions using MMC, Laing O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 Emery said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been able to engage very early on in a project, the beauty of that being everything gets planned out to suit a slick and swift delivery period. The payback is the certainty and delivery period, which is quicker.鈥�

Linesight associate director Marion Close agreed. 鈥淭he more people can be involved early on in the project, the easier it is to get a structure in place that鈥檚 both workable and achievable. And you can have more predictability around delivery.鈥�

Patrick Morrison, pre-contract manager and health sector lead for building services group NG Bailey, said that his firm was often brought in early under the project delivery model, which allowed him to demonstrate the benefits of MMC and share those benefits from an early stage. 

鈥淲e can build parts of the structure offsite, integrated with the MEP, and deliver sections of the building to the site, ready to go.鈥�

We can build parts of the structure offsite, integrated with the MEP, and deliver sections of the building to the site, ready to go

Patrick Morrison, NG Bailey

Morrison went on: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real focus on fast-track delivery without compromising quality 鈥� manufacturing components offsite, where we can still undertake rigorous qualification validation, pre鈥憅ualification, pre-validation, and then delivering high-quality solutions design.鈥�

GSK鈥檚 Townsend said there was a difference between using standard methodologies for design and fabrication, and just turning up on site with a standardised box. Being able to de-risk a project in a factory environment shouldn鈥檛 be underestimated, he argued.

However, there was a note of caution around modular solutions. IPS managing director Daryn Jenkins said sometimes a project didn鈥檛 warrant them. 

鈥淚f you are looking at developing a flexible and adaptable space, it might be better to stick build that and use modular for a plant room area in a manufacturing facility.鈥� 

Experience of implementing projects definitely comes into play, he said. 鈥淚t really is a case of picking the right solution for the right situation.鈥�