Because these rooms are highly hazardous, the air change rate must be high in volume, but it must also be at low level physically.

So they commissioned a US company called Brooks to design a robot that could collect samples and deliver them to the scientist, in a way that’s a bit like a vending machine.Our challenge was to design and build the building around the robot system which was a world first and still in development.. Additionally, the way Bryden Wood have designed the extraction systems is a UK - and probably world first.

Because these rooms are highly hazardous, the air change rate must be high in volume, but it must also be at low level physically.In every other facility I know of, extracting at low level is done with ductwork.It's inefficient because you can only put ductwork in certain areas, as people cannot be required to step over it as they move around the space.

Worse, because of the way ductwork is made, the extraction actually takes place about 15cm from the floor, which would allow the cold nitrogen to completely miss the extraction and bleed out into the room..So we designed a trench system, covered with a grille, to surround all the critical areas, and we extract the air from the trench.

Any nitrogen is pulled into the trench by the extraction (we’re extracting the air from the whole space through the trench), but also by gravity because it’s heavier than air.

It seems almost obvious, but because it was a groundbreaking MEP design , we did comprehensive testing and modelling to make sure it would work, using computational fluid dynamics (a digital way of predicting how air will move through a building).The principal MEPchallenge here is catering for the air change requirements, which are clearly much higher in a laboratory than in an office.

Doing this has been greatly helped by the 3D modelling that was carried out on the original project.. HVAC upgrades at the Portway.Also on the Granta Park is a building called Portway.

Initially built as a large office complex for one company, we have been working on dividing it up to house nine separate clients.This has complex implications for mechanical and electrical services.