Key Takeaways from Relocating Complex Lab Projects

2025 Lab Design Conference speaker—Danielle Benford, senior vice president, VOC Associates

Relocating a laboratory—whether clinical, research, or academic—is one of the most challenging transitions an organization can undertake. Beyond simply moving equipment, the process demands meticulous planning, coordination, and risk management to protect ongoing operations, research continuity, and staff morale. At the 2025 Lab Design Conference in Denver, CO, Danielle Benford, senior vice president of VOC Associates, and Chris Orlando, president of VOC Associates, shared practical lessons learned from years of leading transition and activation planning for complex laboratory projects.

Their message was clear: lab relocation is far more than a physical move. It is a strategic process that, if handled correctly, ensures zero downtime, budget control, and a seamless day-one experience for staff. If handled poorly, it can create costly overruns, schedule delays, and long-term inefficiencies in the new space.

Start early—much earlier than you think

One of the strongest themes of the session was the importance of early engagement. Too often, relocation planning begins late in the design process, when costly mistakes have already been baked in.

“It is literally never too early to start,” Orlando emphasized. “Sometimes even as early as schematic design… because we will literally map from bench to bench. We’ll measure shelving, dimensions, MEP—we’ll pull the plugs on things… because we’re trying to mitigate as much risk as possible.”

Starting early allows project managers to identify gaps in electrical outlets, plumbing, storage, or pathways before walls are closed or equipment orders finalized. It also provides time to secure vendor availability—no small task in today’s labor market, where specialized movers and installers are often booked months in advance.

The consequence of waiting is familiar: “We get a lot of panicked phone calls… usually nine to 10 months out, where someone’s like, ‘Hey, we’ve got this lab coming online and we thought we had this under control. What do we have to do to make this happen?’” Orlando explained. When that happens, the same amount of planning gets crammed into a fraction of the time, multiplying stress and risk.

Action: Involve transition and activation project managers as soon as a project reaches schematic design. Their field-based perspective prevents costly rework and ensures readiness on day one.

Conduct a true “full inventory”

Benford and Orlando repeatedly stressed that many labs underestimate the level of detail needed in an equipment inventory. Relying on cut sheets, spec sheets, or partial user lists can create critical mismatches on move day.

“I’d always recommend 100 percent—whoever’s doing it—whether it’s your internal people, external people, the architect, or the engineer: always maintain a full inventory,” Orlando told the Lab Design Conference audience. “And that means size, actual dimensions, not relying on a cut sheet… because that does occur quite often, where you go to put something in and if it wasn’t measured in the field, you come up short.”

That means checking power cords, drain requirements, and even verifying that infrastructure shown on drawings was actually built in the field. “Just because it goes on the drawings doesn’t mean it makes it to the field,” he cautioned.

Action: Document exact equipment dimensions, door swings, handles, utilities, drains, and venting. Validate all field conditions before installation.

Build and communicate a detailed schedule

2025 Lab Design Conference speaker—Chris Orlando, president, VOC Associates

Relocations are highly interdependent. One missed vendor appointment can cascade into days of delay. To prevent this, Benford and Orlando’s team builds detailed transition and activation schedules that may stretch to thousands of line items.

“With a move, you can never communicate too much. There’s not such a thing,” Benford noted. “You will inevitably have someone who hasn’t paid attention until two weeks before the move, and then they want every single piece of data you can give them.”

To manage this, they recommend producing multiple schedule formats: Gantt charts for project managers, calendar views for administrators, and daily schedules for staff and vendors during the move. Redundancy and over-communication are essential.

Action: Create a master transition and activation schedule and share it in multiple formats tailored to different audiences. Over-communicate with vendors and staff to avoid last-minute surprises.

Budget for more than construction costs

One of the most overlooked aspects of lab relocation is transition budgeting. Move costs often fall outside initial project estimates, leaving lab managers scrambling to cover unexpected expenses from their operating budgets.

“Correct transition and activation budgeting is probably the thing that we see missed more than anything,” Benford warned. “For one single piece of bench top equipment, you may be looking at a $10,000 to $20,000 cost for them to come in, uninstall it, do a two-hour reinstall, and run some validations. That’s one piece of equipment.”

Other hidden costs include recertification of biosafety cabinets, anchoring, specialty movers for irreplaceable specimens, and staff overtime. Even simple morale measures—like providing food during move days—should be planned and budgeted.

Action: Develop a comprehensive transition and activation budget early, including vendor uninstall/reinstall fees, recertifications, overtime, temporary storage, and contingency allowances.

Prioritize practical equipment placement

A common pitfall in lab design is assuming that if equipment fits on paper, it will function well in practice. Benford cautioned that end-user input is critical. “Just because it can fit on the plan does not mean that when you walk through that lab and have to work there every day, that it’s the best way to do that work,” she said to the Lab Design Conference audience. “Make sure you get anyone that works in that lab space to have some voice in design.”

Examples include ensuring biosafety cabinet sizes reflect actual work patterns, installing automatic door openers where staff handle heavy or hazardous materials, and avoiding impractical specimen pathways through carpeted zones.

Action: Involve not only principal investigators but also technicians and day-to-day lab users in design decisions about placement and workflow.

Anticipate storage and governance challenges

Flammable and acid cabinets are another frequent source of trouble. Older units often fail to meet code in new facilities, and shared cabinets rarely work without clear governance.

“We’re not seeing a lot of shared governance… and in which case, then you have labs that are trying to figure out, well, where does my acid stuff go? Where do my flammables go?” Benford explained. “Just think about your placements, your calculations, and how everyone’s going to work together.”

Action: Audit existing cabinets for compliance, plan for individual rather than shared storage where governance is lacking, and verify chemical management strategies before relocation.

Plan for human factors

Moves can be as stressful for staff as they are for facilities. Communicating early and often, involving skeptical stakeholders in planning, and planning for staff orientation and training are all vital.

“You want that first moment that they’re in that lab to feel like it’s like day 300,” Orlando said. “That’s really one of our goals.”

Action: Build orientation and mock operations into the transition plan. Over-communicate schedules and changes. Support staff morale through transparency, involvement, and small but meaningful gestures like providing food and breaks.

Lab relocation is not simply a logistical exercise—it is an organizational transformation that touches every aspect of research, operations, and staff wellbeing. As Benford and Orlando emphasized, success depends on starting early, conducting a full equipment inventory, creating a detailed activation schedule, budgeting realistically, and prioritizing practical workflow design.

By embracing these practices, architects, engineers, lab managers, and owner’s representatives can avoid costly mistakes, protect research continuity, and give staff confidence in their new space.

“Opening your new lab shouldn’t be an experiment,” Orlando concluded. “You’re already doing the experiments.”

Discover how to avoid costly mistakes in lab design by planning ahead and engaging the people who will use the space at the 2026 Lab Design Conference in Orlando, FL, May 11–14. Visit https://www.labdesignconference.com/ for the complete agenda, networking opportunities, and optional lab tours and workshops.