[ sector expertise ]■
Life Sciences
Life sciences organisations build environments where the quality of the space directly affects the quality of the science.
From global pharmaceutical headquarters to specialist biotech campuses, life sciences workplaces carry operational, regulatory and technical requirements that demand a different standard of project advice. We have been delivering it across three continents.
Clients advised by our DirectorsBOSTON SCIENTIFIC
NOVO NORDISK
PFIZER
KENVUE
ASTELLAS
TAKEDA
[ sector insights ]■
The Sector
In life sciences, the workplace is not a backdrop to the work. It is infrastructure for it.
Life sciences organisations occupy a distinctive position in the commercial workplace market. Their environments must simultaneously satisfy the functional requirements of a modern professional workplace, the operational requirements of a highly regulated industry, and the increasingly sophisticated expectations of a talent market that is both globally mobile and acutely selective about where it chooses to work.
The brief for a life sciences fit-out is rarely straightforward. Laboratory adjacencies, containment requirements, specialist ventilation and HVAC systems, controlled access zones, and the operational continuity obligations that govern how pharmaceutical and medical device companies manage their physical infrastructure during a construction programme - these are not peripheral considerations. They are the programme. A project manager who encounters them for the first time on your project is learning at your expense.
Beyond the technical complexity, life sciences organisations operate in an environment of intense regulatory scrutiny. GMP compliance, FDA and EMA requirements, environmental health and safety obligations, and the specific documentation and audit trail requirements that govern how regulated environments are modified - these shape every stage of a project from brief development through to handover. The project manager's role in a life sciences environment extends well beyond coordination. It requires genuine sector fluency - the ability to engage with regulatory and quality assurance teams as a peer, not as a contractor.
[ HIGHLIGHTS ]■
What we bring to life sciences projects
Regulatory and GMP awareness
Life sciences fit-outs operate within a regulatory framework that imposes specific requirements on how environments are designed, documented and validated. From GMP-compliant laboratory areas to controlled storage environments and the audit trail requirements that govern how changes to regulated spaces are recorded, we understand what regulatory compliance means in practice at the level of a project brief. We engage with quality assurance and regulatory affairs teams as standard - ensuring that the project programme reflects regulatory requirements from inception, not as a late-stage correction.
Business Continuity Through Construction
The technical requirements of a life sciences workplace - specialist HVAC and air handling, containment classifications, utility provision for laboratory and research functions, the relationship between wet and dry lab spaces, and the integration of specialist equipment into the base build - require a project manager who can hold a detailed technical brief on behalf of the client and manage the professional team against it with authority. We have developed and managed technical briefs across multiple life sciences environments, from global pharmaceutical headquarters to specialist biotech fit-outs, and we bring that depth of experience to every new appointment.
Operational continuity
Life sciences organisations cannot afford disruption to regulated processes during a construction programme. Pharmaceutical manufacturing support functions, quality control laboratories, regulatory affairs teams and clinical operations all operate under continuity obligations that require construction sequencing, phasing and contamination control to be planned with a precision that goes beyond standard project management practice. We plan for operational continuity from the first programme discussion - ensuring that construction activity is sequenced around the business's regulatory and operational obligations, not despite them.
International programme delivery
Life sciences organisations are global. Their workplace programmes frequently span multiple countries, multiple regulatory jurisdictions, and multiple internal stakeholder groups operating across different time zones and cultural contexts. We have delivered life sciences projects across the UK, continental Europe, and North America - working with global facilities and real estate teams, international project committees, and local regulatory bodies simultaneously. The governance frameworks we establish for international life sciences programmes reflect that complexity from the outset.
[ Beyond the projects ]■
Deep Expertise
“Over a seven-year period, thirty percent of my project and executive experience was in life sciences - spanning office and laboratory environments across EMEA and North America, two specialist acquisitions in the sector, and a hundred-million dollar headquarters project in New Jersey.
That is not sector exposure. That is sector depth.”
- Lawrence MohiuddineInsights
Acquisition of BioPharma Engineering, Cork - 2022
Acquisition of Bulb Interiors, London - 2023
30% of projects conducted in Life Sciences since 2019
17m EUR, Largest Single Construction Project, Zurich - 2019
$100m+ Largest Single Construction Project, New Jersey - 2023
[ the difference ]■
This sector does not forgive a learning curve. The regulatory frameworks, the laboratory adjacencies, the containment requirements, the language of GMP and operational continuity - these are not things we have read about. They are things we have navigated, across three continents, on behalf of clients who had no tolerance for advisors who were still finding their feet.
[ Articles, insights, press & media ]■
Insights
Thinking that goes beyond the project.
