As a microbiologist laboring in the lab, my goal was to unite passion, purpose and planning. If you care about such things, you know that compromise is a word you scratch from your dictionary.

Thank goodness, then, for mentors who help us get to where we want to arrive. It’s hard for me to forget how a professor pointed me in the right direction with the following guidance: “You not only need to be concerned with your work,” he said, “but how your laboratory enables you to conduct it.”

In other words, a purpose-built environment is everything. In my current role, I try to make my old professor’s advice actionable. It means, for starters, balancing respect for the present with future needs. As with crafting a robust hypothesis, this depends on asking questions that matter: Will our scientists need more space in the future, or will their labs shrink? As such, we make it a priority to consider flexibility and capability as foundational values. Why is this? Because it guarantees that scientists benefit from the capabilities they need to do their essential work.

My experience working in life science laboratories also taught me the value of exactitude. Top-flight science has no room for cutting corners — it never has. This is especially true in today’s environment of tech disruption, when sophisticated and specialized features must be taken into account. Biological safety cabinets, sinks and exhaust control, for example, set laboratory facilities far apart from office or commercial real estate spaces. You have to get these details right, and our focus on this drills down to the tiniest detail. Whether in a ground-up development or conversion from office or warehouse space, developers should take nothing for granted. Every step builds upon the previous one, and taken together as a firm foundation, create an elegant infrastructure for the work of science. The lab, its scientists and their work can all shine, creating a righteous circle where experimentation and innovation synergize.

Now, let’s return to the notion of how physical space changes everything. Due to their complex, individualized requirements, life science labs, buildings and campuses represent a highly specialized asset class. And if you’re a developer, that works with, say, a shopping center, you can’t possibly translate to this work on a one-to-one exchange. In fact, few developers understand life sciences and the technically trained personnel who work inside these spaces; even fewer have scientists on staff to improve on conventional designs. Doing so leads to superior function, efficiency and productivity. To ignore this, by way of metaphor, would be akin to treating the construction of a swimming pool like excavating a pond.

It’s obvious that America needs more developers with life science expertise, especially as we witness a rising nationwide demand for lab space. We’re finding the demands originate not just from established and startup biotech, but also a host of biopharma, medical device and technology companies. In fact, demand across all major markets has shot up by 34 percent since mid-2020, according to CBRE’s mid-2021 report.

SCIENTIST, DEVELOPER, COLLABORATOR

Now, let’s move from construction to collaboration. Lab spaces must assist scientists as they exchange information, wrestle with questions and zero-in on critical conclusions. Conventional real estate development can only address this to a point — often, a limited one. Nor are any two labs alike. For example, a startup might concentrate on computational work over chemistry. Ideally, the developer and the scientists will collaborate and communicate throughout the building project’s lifecycle. This is where my background as a scientist factors in. I do my utmost to ensure that we capture the right details at the right time. Again, it’s all about exactitude.

Collaboration of a different sort also comes into play when we work to understand a tenant’s short- and long-term business needs. Our large, nationally expanding portfolio empowers us to grow and change even as our clients do: a dynamic rather than static relationship. If we begin to service a Chicago client in a 100,000-square-foot space, we always keep close at hand the possibility they will expand nationwide, and thus inform the ways we can and will serve them.

FUTUREPROOF

If only the complexities and challenges stopped there. Every life sciences developer must always evaluate municipal, state and federal codes that govern these involved environments. Whether we create new labs or rehab existing spaces, the role of governing bodies cannot be underestimated or taken for granted. When steps are skipped or overlooked, a development can stop dead in its tracks, or worse yet, get knocked backwards in ways that waste time, money and a team’s passion for the project. But done right, complying to code ensures success.

This clears the way for developers to keep an eye toward those future needs mentioned earlier. It’s essential to learn and internalize the requirements of each life sciences tenant. Always high on the list is what expansion might look like. Will it necessitate space for new, larger equipment? How will power, water and ventilation be upgraded? This also applies to the possible need to downsize.

No matter what the questions may yield, everything must return to the work at hand. It’s easy to take for granted that laboratories are and must be highly controlled environments. That’s essential. But the right developer/partner anticipates future requirements and keeps a watchful eye on efficiency, long-term flexibility and sustainability. What’s more, that developer will consider current and future infrastructure needs to maximize safety and superior function. This embraces lighting, power, cabling, floor-load capacity, and the welfare of workers and the surrounding community. From properly configured ductless fume hoods and processes for hazardous materials handling, to slip-resistant floors, details matter.

SCIENCE OF EMPLOYEE NURTURANCE

For scientists to thrive and harness their drive, they need spaces for privacy, sharing and relaxation. Thus, construction blueprints must reflect a dual purpose: to satisfy the rigorous requirements of scientific work and create spaces that inspire interaction, innovation and collegiality.

Let’s remember how much that last detail — collegiality — matters. Scientists, myself included, are proud of the long hours we invest in lab work. But when we need a meal, a cup of coffee or even a beer with a colleague, how does our environment encourage this? When we build amenities around laboratory spaces, we create desirable locations that attract tenants, promote a sense of well-being, and foster excellent work. Not merely buildings, they belong to “innovation districts” that support scientists as people and meet their myriad needs.

The Brookings 2014 report, The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America, sums up their importance: “Innovation districts are the manifestation of mega-trends altering the location preferences of people and firms and, in the process, re-conceiving the very link between economy shaping, place making and social networking. … Instead of inventing on their own in real or metaphorical garages, an array of entrepreneurs [are] starting their companies in collaborative spaces, where they can mingle with other entrepreneurs and have efficient access to everything from legal advice to sophisticated lab equipment.”

With innovation districts in the planning stages, developers have seized the need to add amenities to individual buildings and whole campuses. We are listening and acting. The better the quality of life these districts promote, the easier it will be to attract sought-after researchers and the startup businesses that often accompany them.

Building better life sciences laboratories has always demanded technical expertise and rigor. But a deep understanding of scientists as people — coupled with a commitment to human-centered design — matters, too. When I reflect on my own career, and appraise the needs of today’s lab scientists, I know: On this human score, there is no need to run an experiment.

Suzet McKinney is principal and director of life sciences at Sterling Bay, former CEO of the Illinois Medical District, and an educator at Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.