With low lab vacancy in East Cambridge’s Kendall Square neighborhood Biogen needed to convert existing office and lab space at their Cambridge Center campus into lab and support space for their Translation Biology research and development team. This needed to be done quickly and without disturbance to ongoing operations. The lab conversion included a BSL 2 lab, tissue culture rooms, cold storage, supporting lab spaces and a FACS core suite to accommodate multiple lab groups.
Located above existing labs and offices the Wise team wanted to be armed with as much knowledge as possible before starting construction. By utilizing our in-house BIM modeling team and a Design Assist approach Wise Construction worked closely with Biogeh, the design team and key subcontractors to coordinate a 3D model in real time that accommodated the existing conditions and also allowed for all sub-trades layers and MEP systems to be virtually built within the model.
With the final 3D model Wise Construction was able to pre-plan piping locations in the most efficient manner ensuring design intent without compromising the functionality of the space. Understanding the pre-existing conditions lends itself to the possibility of including prefabricated components which saves time, ensuring schedule certainty. Having a strong understanding of the existing building conditions also makes for seamless tie-ins with existing utilities which leads to minimal shutdowns ultimately making the project less obstructive to ongoing operations.
