New Zealand Laboratories Win International Design Awards

Press Release – Thursday 20 June 2013
Immediate Release

New Zealand Laboratories Win International Design Awards

Specialist laboratory architects, Lab-works Architecture have been recognised overnight at the S-Lab Conference and Awards in Liverpool, England. With two of their recent science facilities making the short list for the International Laboratory Buildings category, it is a laboratory refurbishment project at Scion in Rotorua that has won the award. While the new laboratory fit-out in the Alan MacDiarmid Building, for Victoria University of Wellington, has been Highly Commended.

The S-Lab (Safe, Successful, Sustainable Laboratories) programme is an initiative that is based in the UK to create better links between, and highlight best practice amongst, key players involved in laboratory design, operation and management. Originating in higher education, they now have growing involvement from laboratories and suppliers in both the public and commercial sectors.

This is the first year that the awards programme has included an international category for laboratory design, with entries shortlisted from California and Malta, alongside the two kiwi entries.

With consideration given to all aspects of laboratory design, it included not only the architectural and functional aspects, but also how the design responds to environmental considerations, materials used, energy use, and long term sustainability.

Speaking from the awards ceremony in Liverpool, Lab-works Director Ken Collins said. “We are delighted to be recognised in this way. As always it is a team effort and this reflects on the skills and talents of all who were involved in the design and construction of these projects. It is also a reflection on excellent clients who were prepared to embrace innovative ideas to create safe and sustainable laboratories”.

“We are often asked about how best practice laboratory design fits into the New Zealand context”, says Joanne Kelly, Project Architect for the Scion laboratory. “Adaptive re-use of buildings, budgetary considerations, and flexibility of use are often the driving factors in our brief. This means that innovative approaches to design and use need to be applied to ensure standards are met, the spaces are functional, while at the same time ensuring it is a nice place to work for the scientists”.

“An openness, with vision through and between spaces, not only makes for an interconnected space that is pleasant to work in, it is also important for safety and security”, adds Ken.

The short listing notes say that the Scion laboratory combines and refurbishes two laboratory buildings, triples utilisation, fosters cross-disciplinary interaction, and improves safety and sustainability. Based at the Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park in Rotorua, Scion is a Crown Research Institute that specialises in science and technology development for the forestry, wood product and wood-derived materials sectors.

Refurbishment of the 1970’s building has reinvigorated the facility to accommodate analytical, fermentation, and molecular laboratories that have both individual and open-plan spaces. A feature of the project is the new fully glazed north facing corridor that has allowed the internal spaces to be opened up, and the space used more efficiently. Not only has this maximised the views to the exterior, it has also allowed SCION to take their clients through the facility, to view the science taking place, without the need for them to enter the laboratory zone.

When opened in October last year by Steve Joyce, Minister for Science and Innovation, SCION CEO, Dr Warren Parker commented "We had a great team working on this project, both internally and externally. Their combined expertise and professionalism resulted in a project that was completed in time and on budget. I congratulate them all for the outstanding facility they have given us".

Highly Commended, the Alan MacDiarmid building at Victoria University houses the Schools of Biological Sciences and Chemical and Physical Sciences. Previously awarded for engineering aspects of the building, this is the second high profile award for this facility.

The design philosophy is for the labs to be visible from other spaces within the building and for labs to be open to each other for the sharing of information and learning. The layout is able to be modified in the future without significant alterations to the infrastructure. Joinery units were specifically designed to incorporate all services, and allow for future additions to the network. Clean rooms are designed to be flexible to allow for changes in requirements over time.

Certainly the creation of these facilities will assist in development of both leading edge science, and leading edge scientists, that will hopefully benefit New Zealand long into the future.

ENDS

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