Relocating a laboratory can be a daunting and time-consuming task. If you work in a laboratory, it’s not something that you will likely have to do on a regular basis.

One of the most common questions that we get asked is “What does it take to relocate a laboratory” or “How do you plan a laboratory relocation”. This question needs to take many variables into consideration:

• How large is the laboratory that is relocating?
• Are you a regulated laboratory?
• Do you have anyone in your own team that are both experienced enough and have the time to complete the planning of the laboratory move?
• When are you relocating?
• Do you have hazardous chemicals and samples to relocate?
• How much of your equipment needs some level of decommissioning/recommissioning/ validation?

Ultimately, no laboratory relocation is completely the same.

However, although no laboratory relocation is completely the same, there are several planning constants in most laboratory relocation projects:

Identify who will be your lead contact within your organisation, as well as ensuring the correct size and skillset internal support team. It’s important to have a key contact to liaise between any external stakeholders and your internal team. Having multiple main or lead contacts involved can lead to mixed messaging, poor communication, and an inefficient project strategy. Likewise, if there are a lot of internal tasks of a varying nature to complete then leaving the tasks all to one person might be too much, especially if they still have their day job to do.

There will need to be key stakeholder input from people and departments, such as health and safety, QA, office managers, and other laboratory users, but laboratory relocation projects run better when there is one key contact to act as a “relocation project manager” or a small relocation project team for the larger and more complex programmes. Either way, an efficient communication strategy, both internally and externally, for all key stakeholders is key.

Start planning early. In our opinion of “best practice”, once you have established that you are relocating your laboratory you should get the wheels in motion and come up with a high-level project plan. Whether this is planning internally or reaching out to a specialist to assist and advise, it is never too early to start discussions. Getting all the costs and timescales for various required aspects, ensuring you have all the correct and up to date information and finding suitable suppliers and specialists can all take a lot of time and effort.

A couple of documents that a will make the initial planning of the relocation for an experienced laboratory relocation project manager a lot easier are:

• A full and sufficiently detailed equipment asset list
• A full chemical / COSHH list

The equipment asset list will be a great start to review your current equipment list and complete an assessment and data capture of any equipment requirements. A lot of equipment cannot just be unplugged, packed and relocated, which is especially true for a GxP laboratory. Getting all the requirements into a master document will ensure that all the equipment decommissioning/recommissioning/validation requirements are in an orderly list for costs to be obtained by various suppliers and specialists.

A full and accurate chemical / COSHH list is vitally important to ensure that any relocation is completed both safely and legally on public roads. If you are a larger laboratory company, then you might employ a Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor or “DGSA”. A DGSA will be required by law to ensure that the chemical / COSHH list has been checked, all packing requirements under ADR regulations are captured and the qualified team that complete the packing, relocation and unpacking of hazardous goods are completed safely and legally. The chemical list will need to have certain information on it that can be obtained from the Safety Data Sheets. If you have a small amount of chemicals this might not take too long, however, if you have chemicals list that runs into the thousands, then it can take several weeks for someone to complete this element so the DGSA can complete the legal aspect for safe and legal transport.

If you don’t have complete equipment lists where some equipment decommissioning / recommissioning / validation is required, or chemical / COSHH lists, then a specialist company should be able to offer this data capture and inventory service for you.

Cold chain relocation needs a strong focus. Inevitably most laboratories, if not all, will have LN2 cryo storage units, freezers and/or fridges to relocate. The contents of these are likely to be the most important items that will be relocated, as they are often irreplaceable if damaged or lost. There are several ways that these can be transported from your current to your new laboratories.

Specialist laboratory relocation companies should be able to advise of the safest, lowest risk and most cost efficient and environmentally friendly way to relocate your cold chain materials. The best method will be different for individual laboratories and will be dictated by a number of factors such as hazardous type and level, tolerance to temperature fluctuations, regulatory requirements, and the amount of time/distance from your existing laboratory to your new laboratory facility. Early planning and identification of your cold chain relocation strategy will allow for a plan and budget to be put in place.

Understanding relocation timings are critical. As part of the planning phase is it vital to understand how long it will take to complete the full relocation and most importantly, the amount of downtime that is likely. Modern day laboratories are often very fast paced environments, and any laboratory downtime will be detrimental to ongoing research and laboratory operations. Engaging with an experienced laboratory relocation specialist’s project team will allow them to build a project timeline that both a) works for your requirements and is b) realistic and achievable. This wouldn’t just be for the physical packing, moving and unpacking, but would include any additional requirements such as decontamination and fumigation as well as equipment decommissioning, commissioning and validation.

A successful relocation plan might need to be completed as a phased relocation rather than one single and continuous move. Engaging early with a specialist laboratory relocation specialist project manager who will build you a viable relocation programme will ensure your laboratory disruption and downtime is kept to an absolute minimum.

Budgeting for the relocation. A laboratory relocation project can be expensive, especially for highly regulated laboratories and where there is a lot of high end/analytical equipment. Getting some early budget quotes for all the elements that might be required allows for the likely budget that is required to be understood and ringfenced. These costs could include any required project management and DGSA planning support to plan and deliver your project, relocation costs for packing, moving and unpacking all of your equipment/chemicals/samples/consumables/furniture/office areas, and any equipment decommissioning, recommissioning and validation requirements will allow you to understand the costs that are involved.

There will be some other smaller costs to consider, but the above will be the majority of main costs to ensure are allowed for.

Plan for the unexpected. Although a laboratory relocation can be perfectly planned, there is always something that can get in the way of the perfectly planned project. What happens if you relocate all your fridges and freezers and one or more of the compressors fail? What happens if the connections to the LN2 feed are not correct and the LN2 cannot be connected to fill up Dewars once relocated? Has the pressure been tested and validated for the HPLCs to function correctly? What happens if the build and fit-out is delayed and there are a large number of equipment engineers and relocation teams already booked in? A company that specialises in planning and relocating laboratories should be aware of, and understand, all of the possible pitfalls and more importantly how to plan for and mitigate them.

The above are some of the basic considerations should your laboratory be relocating. Here at Restore Harrow Green Laboratory Services we are always happy to advise and assist you in the planning and relocation of your laboratories.