Austin were commissioned by MRCT and SBC to undertake the concept design and then a preliminary study for the fit-out of the ground floor. This provided additional accommodation for MRCT to relocate staff from another location, and for SBC, a series of lettable laboratory and office spaces based around the “Hotel Concept” for leasing out as short to mid-term research space.

Following this Austin were commissioned to undertake the detail design for incorporating MRCT’s and SBC’s overall requirements into the Accelerator Building.

Austin worked closely with MRCT and SBC to develop the detailed design for all activities and the equipment.

In order to satisfy MRCT’s requirements, accommodation included:

• Material entry and receipt.
• Open plan chemistry laboratory incorporating 18 fume cupboards, prep and analysis areas, a separate NMR room and solvent storage.
• Open plan biology laboratories incorporating mobile/flexible work stations, separate tissue culture, radiological, imaging and equipment laboratories.
• Centralised site services incorporating glass wash, autoclave and consumables storage.
• Open plan and cellular offices with laboratory write-up areas.
• External compound for generator, UPS, gas bottle and waste store.

‘We are delighted with our new facility. Austin’s state of the art design has created a dynamic open plan environment which increases interdisciplinary interactions and allows us t? better harness the problem solving abilities of our employees. The new laboratories and offices enable teams to work more efficiently to push forward potential treatments to patients.’
Dr Justin Bryans, Director, Drug Discovery at MRC Technology.