Laboratories
In a research or testing lab, the ventilation and exhaust often are the work. We deliver construction-ready lab MEP designed room by room — air changes, pressure cascades, and fume-hood capture engineered so containment holds, the science stays valid, and the people stay safe.
Ventilation and Safety, Built Around the Bench.
Air-change rates, directional pressure relationships, and fume-hood capture decide whether the science is valid and the people are safe — and a lab conditions and exhausts air around the clock, so energy and safety pull against each other on every decision. We design the ventilation and containment each space actually needs, with VAV exhaust and utilities routed so the layout can change as the research does — coordinated with your team and sealed by the licensed engineer of record on your project.
Lab Ventilation & Fume-Hood Exhaust
Capture and containment engineered at design, not balanced into compliance later.
- Fume-hood, snorkel, and canopy exhaust per ANSI/AIHA/ASSP Z9.5 and NFPA 45
- Face velocities (typically 80–120 fpm) set at design and verified by ASHRAE 110 as-installed (AI) testing
- VAV fume-hood and lab-air control with sash-position turndown to minimum ACH
- Manifolded exhaust with redundant (N+1) fans so a fan outage never drops containment
- High-plume dilution stacks — 3,000+ fpm discharge, 10-ft minimum stack — sized to clear re-entrainment
- Once-through (non-recirculating) supply matched to the chemical hazard
Pressure Cascades & Containment
Directional airflow that protects the product, the sample, and the people.
- Room-by-room pressure relationships — negative for containment, positive for product protection
- Dedicated, code-segregated hazardous-exhaust paths kept off general systems
- Biosafety-level airflow and BSC coordination per CDC/NIH BMBL where applicable
- Cleanroom pressure cascades and ISO 14644 air changes for cGMP and USP 797/800 suites
- Tight temperature and humidity tolerances for analytical and metrology work
Critical Power & Instruments
Power that keeps samples, instruments, and exhaust alive through an outage.
- Standby/emergency power for critical exhaust fans, ULT freezers, and incubators
- UPS coordination for sensitive instruments and continuous data acquisition
- Bench and equipment power-density planning with isolated/clean grounds where required
- Vibration and EMI criteria factored into placement of microscopy and metrology tools
- Power and controls per NEC, with hazardous-location wiring where the classification calls for it
Lab Plumbing, Gas & Life Safety
Lab-grade water, specialty gases, and safety fixtures done right.
- RO/DI and lab-grade water systems with point-of-use polishing
- Acid-resistant waste piping and acid-neutralization (dilution/neutralization) tanks
- Emergency showers and eyewash per ANSI/ISEA Z358.1
- Specialty and lab-gas distribution with manifolds, purge, and gas detection per NFPA 55
- Flammable / hazardous-material storage and control-area limits per NFPA 30 and the IFC
Flexibility & Coordination
Labs change faster than buildings — we design for it.
- Casework, utilities, and waste routed on a flexible grid for reconfiguration
- Overhead service carriers and modular bench/utility coordination
- BIM coordination with casework, equipment, and process-vendor packages
- ASHRAE 90.1 energy compliance balanced against safety-driven minimum airflow
- Distribution sized so the next renovation is a connection exercise, not a demolition
Quick answers about how we deliver design support for this sector.
We set face velocities at design per ANSI/AIHA/ASSP Z9.5 — typically 80 to 120 fpm — and size the exhaust and make-up air to hold them across sash positions. On VAV hoods we coordinate sash-sensing turndown so containment holds while energy drops. We then specify ASHRAE 110 as-installed (AI) testing so hood performance is verified with tracer gas in the field, not assumed on paper.
Yes. We design room-by-room pressure relationships — negative for chemical or biological containment, positive for product protection — with dedicated hazardous-exhaust paths and the air-change rates each space requires. For biocontainment we coordinate to the CDC/NIH BMBL biosafety level, and for cGMP, USP 797/800, and ISO 14644 cleanroom suites we design the full pressure cascade and classified air changes behind your seal.
Those two goals fight each other, so we resolve them in the design. Manifolded exhaust with N+1 redundant fans and standby power keeps critical exhaust running through a fan or utility outage, while VAV hoods and lab-air controls turn the system down to safe minimum air changes when hoods are idle. High-plume dilution stacks then discharge at 3,000-plus fpm to prevent re-entrainment, all reconciled against ASHRAE 90.1 without dropping below NFPA 45 safety minimums.
Yes. We design specialty and lab-gas distribution — manifolds, purge, and gas detection — per NFPA 55, and reconcile flammable and hazardous-material quantities against control-area and storage limits in NFPA 30 and the IFC. That carries through to acid-resistant waste with neutralization, RO/DI water, and emergency showers and eyewash per ANSI/ISEA Z358.1.
We route casework, utilities, and waste on a flexible service grid from the start, because labs change faster than the buildings around them. Overhead service carriers, spare exhaust and utility capacity, and modular bench coordination mean the next renovation is a connection exercise rather than a demolition — which keeps your downtime and change orders down on every reconfiguration.
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