‘You can feel that it’s like the hub,’ says Adam Chivers, commenting on the central functionality of the atrium.

The laboratory equipment can have a major impact on not just the design philosophy behind the lab design layout and services, but also the environment, health and safety (EHS)..Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Requirements.

Some processes within labs are hazardous or toxic to health, and these are usually communicated to the laboratory design team by the client early in the design phases.It’s important to ask for all processes being undertaken as to the EHS requirements, as often it affects the laboratory design layout or services design.. For example, consider processes which require either containment or clean room status.In both instances, this means that process, along with perhaps all the other processes within its functional group, will need to be separated physically from the other functional groups and an air pressure differential adhered to.

This directly drives the lab layout, plus the services requirements and the finishes specifications..Hazard studies, conducted with both the users and the laboratory designers present, should identify the major EHS issues with the aim to design out all the risks.

Some processes may use hazardous material or be explosive, so a Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) assessment must be undertaken by the client with the lab designer involved, as it will affect the plant selection and design.. We must be aware of design elements which are assumed to be inherently safe.

A fume cupboard, for example, is only safe if it passes its face velocity tests, and that depends on the air velocity within the room.We need to create cleaner, greener responses in order to overcome the environmental damage being caused by coal-fired power plants, industries like aviation and shipping, and liquid fuels such as oil and gas.

Due to the site and land use challenges posed by wind and solar power, attempting to meet our vast energy needs with renewable technologies alone would be prohibitively difficult.As a result, we’ll need help from complementary, advanced heat solutions to bend the curve on carbon emissions and meet our net zero goals.. One of the biggest decarbonisation challenges we face, and one of the biggest opportunities presented to us, comes in the form of repowering coal power plants.

Incredibly, the coal-fired capacity being used in the world today is emitting around 15 billion tonnes of carbon emissions each year, representing almost half of all our carbon emissions.Bryden Wood is working alongside non-profit TerraPraxis, as part of the Repowering Coal Initiative.