Chemistry Research Laboratory

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Chemistry Research Laboratory

• HEEPI Better Buildings Programme
• July 2004
• Dr Richard Jones - Building Facilities Manager

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First Chemistry Building
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First Chemistry Building

• Constructed in 1860
• First purpose built Chemistry Laboratory
• Chemistry as Separate discipline
• 4 charcoal fires provided fume extraction

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First Chemistry Building
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Chemistry Research Laboratory
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Chemistry Research Laboratory

• First occupied 5th January 2004
• Contains Organic, inorganic, biological and
  physical and theoretical chemists
• CRL is a research building, no undergraduates
• Occupants are Part II students, Ph.D students,
  post-docs and professorial chairs

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A Major Advance

• Inorganic Chemistry Building 1860
• Dyson Perrins Building 1915
• Physical Theoretical Chemistry Building 1941
• Significant change in working environment
• 1st class services and facilities
• User feedback very positive

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What has worked well ?
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Atrium
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Atrium Café

• Immense success and highly complimented
• Always first point of call on tour
• Nothing like this before
• Chef Manager probably plays important role but
  decision to allocate space taken at start
• Dilemma more laboratories or the open space ?

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A. Open Space

• Focal meeting point for occupants
• Provides change of environment during working day
• Lunch, tea/coffee and meetings without travelling
• Has encouraged groups/disciplines to interact
• Encourages ownership in the building

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Atrium Environment

• Under floor heating in winter
• Automatic roof vents and windows in summer
• Maintains pleasant warmth in winter but cool
  environment without costly air conditioning

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Generic Laboratory Design

• One generic laboratory design developed
• Should be used for all general research work
• Allows high degree of flexibility
• Users always adapt to space available
• Allows for easier consistent maintenance
• Building is more impressive, contiguous

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Generic Laboratory
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Specialist Laboratory Design

• Always a requirement for specialist laboratories
• Usually central facilities, service, production
• Specific heat loads, light levels or air handling
• Specialist design in response to equipment not
  Users wishes
• Tendency to build inflexibility or kingdoms

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Dirty/Clean Philosophy
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Dirty/Clean Area Philosophy

• Provides clean areas and routes and dirty
  areas and routes
• Samples, chemicals, white coats, analytical
  services in dirty areas
• Meeting, eating, visitors in clean areas

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Open Plan Write Up Areas
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Open Plan Write Up Areas

• Despite reservations has worked well
• Areas not noisy and are conducive to work
• Some rules required No music systems

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Water Consumption

• Chemistry traditionally uses a lot of water
• Water for cooling and vacuum generation
• Each fume hood has vacuubrand pump
• Despite water use reduction effluent clean
• All chemical waste for specialist disposal

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Building Management

• Trend 962 BMS
• Head end located in building
• Building personnel can interrogate easily
• Can tweak settings to provide increased
  sophistication

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What could be improved ?
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BMS Temperature Control

• Currently maintained at 21oC during day
• Building 24/7 but less occupancy at night
• Unoccupied temperature at night to 18oC
• Saves money/energy in winter through less heating
• But..

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in Summer

• Possibility to induce additional cooling
  overnight
• Could program BMS to have high set back
  temperature during summer
• But when do I change temperature settings
• Could result in heating overnight

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Temperature Control Required

• Range or window required
• Heating and cooling unoccupied at 18oC 24oC
• Monitors incoming air and makes decision to heat
  or cool

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Air Handling
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Air Handling

• Building discharges air equivalent to four
  bedroom house every second
• This is air conditioned air, expensive air
• Face velocity of fume hood is 0.5ms-1
• Air supply into building matches extract required
• Quantity of air required to maintain velocity
  greater when fume hood open

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Education

• Educate Users to close sashes whenever absent,
  even 2 minutes
• Introduction of on-the-spot fines
• Also a safety issue, contains problems

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Firetrace

• Heat sensitive tube in top of fume hood
• Any sufficient heat source will break tube and
  release CO2
• CRL has had one genuine solvent fire to date
• Fire extinguished in seconds
• Negligible damage, replace Firetrace tube and
  cylinder, no ductwork or cabinet damage

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Recycling Waste Control

• CRL produces 12 cubic yards of waste per day
• CRL produces 25, 45 gallon drums of solvent waste
  per month (collected twice per month)
• Segregated recycling requires a lot of space,
  plastics, steel, aluminium, paper, glass,
  cardboard

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CRL Waste Control Area
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Recycling Waste Control

• CRL uses 140 glass Winchesters per day
• All arrive boxed and on pallets
• CRL recycles back to suppliers
• Suppliers cannot collect every day so need to
  stock pile with general recycling

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Awaiting Recycling
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Suggestions

• Include open areas, natural light and natural
  ventilation in buildings
• Use a generic design for laboratories unless
  specialist equipment dictates otherwise
• Seek an increasing amount of sophistication in
  building environmental control
• Remember education of Users is significant in the
  success of the systems
• Dont underestimate the amount of space required
  to fulfil recycling activities