Industries We Serve
Laboratory Construction and Lab Upfits
A laboratory is not a medical office with different equipment in it. The floor plan is set by how a specimen moves, the mechanical system is sized for containment rather than comfort, and the space cannot be handed over until the equipment inside it has been proven to work.
Talk to a preconstruction leadLabcorp in Asheboro and Chesapeake, plus the nanotechnology laboratories at Forsyth Technical Community College.
Field teams hold the infection control standard used on occupied healthcare projects, and run the same discipline in working labs.
North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia, with offices in Pilot Mountain, Raleigh and West Columbia.
What makes laboratory construction different
Owners who have built a lab before already know this. Owners building their first one usually find out during commissioning, which is the most expensive place to find out.
Specimen flow sets the plan
Accessioning, processing and storage have to run one direction. A layout that lets a processed sample cross paths with an unaccessioned one will be redesigned, and the later that happens the more casework and mechanical work has to move with it.
Mechanical is the long pole
Dedicated exhaust, pressure relationships between spaces, and redundancy on anything serving specimen storage drive both the budget and the schedule. In a renovation they also drive how much of the existing building has to be opened up.
Equipment has tolerances the building has to meet
Analyzers and imaging instruments carry vibration limits, leveling requirements, power quality expectations and in some cases dedicated circuits that cannot be shared. These come from the equipment vendor rather than the drawings, and they arrive late.
Turnover is documented, not declared
A lab is not finished when the punch list clears. It is finished when the owner can validate the space and put it into service, which means closeout has to line up with the owner's validation protocol.
Working in an operating laboratory
Most lab work is renovation, and most renovation happens while testing continues somewhere in the building. That puts three constraints on the contractor at once. Dust and airborne particulate have to be contained to a standard closer to healthcare than to commercial interiors. Utility outages have to be scheduled around instruments that cannot lose power without a revalidation cycle. And access routes for demolition debris cannot cross the specimen path.
Hayco's field teams hold ICRA certification, the infection control risk assessment standard used on occupied healthcare projects. The containment discipline it requires is the same discipline a working laboratory needs, which is why the same crews run both.
Laboratory projects Hayco has delivered
Laboratory Corporation of America, Asheboro
Asheboro, North Carolina
Upfit of a new patient service center and accessioning lab.
Laboratory Corporation of America, Chesapeake
Chesapeake, Virginia
Facility renovation for a new Labcorp location, at nearly four times the square footage of the Asheboro patient service center.
Forsyth Technical Community College
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Interior renovation of the nanotechnology laboratories for an institution serving more than 11,000 students.
Swipe or use the arrows to see all 3 projects.Swipe to see all 3 projects.
The two Labcorp projects are worth reading together. Asheboro paired a public-facing patient service center with an accessioning lab behind it, which means two very different environments sharing a wall and a schedule. Chesapeake was a full facility renovation in Virginia, where Hayco holds a separate license. The same national client selected Hayco in two states.
How laboratory projects are usually delivered
Lab work rarely fits a hard-bid schedule cleanly, because the equipment list is still moving when the drawings are issued. Two structures handle that better.
- Design-build puts the contractor in the room while the mechanical concept is still open, which is where most of the cost in a lab is decided.
- Interior upfit under a negotiated contract works when the shell is fixed and the unknown is what goes inside it, which describes almost every patient service center.
Where Hayco builds laboratories
Hayco is licensed across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia, and maintains offices in Pilot Mountain and Raleigh, North Carolina, and West Columbia, South Carolina. Laboratory work has been delivered in North Carolina and Virginia to date, and the company is licensed and equipped to run the same scope in Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Related work is covered on the healthcare construction page.
Common questions
Can you build a lab while the rest of the facility keeps testing?
Yes. That is how the majority of lab work is done. The containment, phasing and utility-outage plan is written before mobilization and reviewed with the lab director rather than handed over at the preconstruction meeting.
Who coordinates the equipment vendors?
Hayco does, as part of general construction. Equipment cut sheets drive rough-in dimensions, power and exhaust, so they are tracked as long-lead items from the first schedule.
Do you work in Virginia and South Carolina as well as North Carolina?
Yes. Hayco delivered a 16,700 square foot Labcorp renovation in Chesapeake, Virginia, and staffs South Carolina work from the West Columbia office.
Planning a laboratory project?
Tell us about the space, the instruments going into it, and whether the facility stays in operation. A preconstruction lead will follow up.
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