About EBSA17 - Course H -Design for biological facilities - how to be an 'intelligent customer'

Course Instructors

Philippe Stroot,  Xibios Biosafety Consulting, Tournai/B
Mark Fitzgerald, HDR Architecture, Atlanta, GA/USA
Neil Godden, Public Health England, Salisbury/UK

Building new containment facilities or revamping existing biological laboratories is generally an important step in the development of an organization. It is also a challenge for all those involved in the project, including the laboratory users and the biorisk management advisor. However, contrarily to design professionals, most users and biorisk management advisors are only confronted with major design and construction projects once or a very few times in their career. In such a context, this training course will aim at familiarizing biosafety professionals with design and construction, and providing them with the understanding, knowledge and tools that will help them to apprehend the design of small or large biological facilities in an informed and effective way. It will help them, in particular, to assist the facility owner and users in the definition of their needs and their choices, and to deal with the project architects and engineers.

Some more specific outcomes of this one-day training course will be:

• to know and understand the roles and interests of the various stakeholders in a design and construction project, with a special focus on the role and responsibilities of the biosafety professional;
• to know and understand the project management process, including the types of contracts, the definition of the users needs and requirements, the various phases of design and construction, the development of specifications, the commissioning, and the people involved;
• in particular, to understand the role of commissioning and validation, and the importance of a validation strategy and plan;
• to be able to read and interpret drawing and blue prints;
• to be able to manage communication with the users, designers and engineers;
• to understand warrantees and maintenance around new facilities and equipment.     

Exercises will include reading drawings, problem solving and case studies.