Discovering the world around us and engaging in its promise is critical to us all.
As local contractors, we are passionate about bringing great spaces of discovery to our community, and enjoy all the adventure our extra efforts bring with it. While recently deconstructing an area church, we discovered thousands of honeybees within the cross structure and quickly contacted a local beekeeper to move them to safety.
Also, we are proudly helping the International Crane Foundation with the challenges of enhancing the experience of the bird watchers that enjoy the amazing facilities in Baraboo.
But our passion to enable science goes beyond the birds and the bees, as we successfully build critical lab and production spaces for area scientific companies, bringing the promise of drug discovery, disease diagnostics and treatments, and cutting-edge new technologies to our community.
Whether our science-focused projects are large or small, for the birds and bees or a multifunctional clean room lab, a number of solid actions should be considered when designing and constructing a new facility. The recent pandemic has put even tighter control over the work and numerous new planning functions should take place to ensure safety and cleanliness.
1. Mock-ups, mock-ups, mock-ups
End users of a space are not accustomed to reviewing drawings and translating what the built environment will ultimately be, but advancements in modeling and virtual reality help communicate what the finished space will look like and how it will function. Nothing quite replaces the ability to roll a cart over an epoxy floor mock-up to see how the vibration impacts the media on the cart, observing how finished materials react to intrusive cleaning procedures, or how material transitions actually function. When in doubt, ask your contractor to mock it up.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Too often the commissioning group does not get involved early enough in the project. It’s easy for the entire team to focus on design and getting a project started but then lose sight of the commissioning and validation requirements downstream. To ensure a successful project, all team members should be involved from the start
3. Clean construction starts now
Whether the space is classified construction or not, cleanliness of the lab is critical. Waiting to worry about cleanliness after construction completion is too late. Make sure your construction team has a plan to minimize activities in the lab space as construction progresses. Designating cutting areas, implementing daily cleaning, controlling foot traffic, and eliminating food in the area can drastically reduce the particulate counts throughout the construction site.
4. The WHY
All construction projects make a difference in peoples’ lives. Too few project teams take the time to understand and appreciate the importance of their individual role in making a project a reality. From an owner’s perspective, it’s important to clearly communicate how your project will have an impact. The project team can then relay that impact to new team members throughout the project. When everybody on the project understands the “why,” team performance is top-notch.
Vogel Bros. Building Co. is a fifth-generation construction services company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Our mission is to continually improve our services in order to enhance the lives of the people in the communities we serve.
We look forward to hearing from you and discussing how we might be the right fit for your next project.
Contact:
Peter Szotkowski
(608) 235-2523
