Building ESG into the DNA of life sciences projects

While cost or schedule tend to be the primary drivers for life sciences clients coming to Linesight for consultancy services, carbon is rapidly catching up. And with UK and EU-based companies now required to submit compliance reports on their corporate sustainability, the pressure for greater transparency and accountability from investors and other stakeholders will increase.

Facilities will need robust environmental and social credentials and sustainability goals will need to be factored in from the offset. In short: ESG will have to be built into the DNA of life sciences projects. This will bring huge benefits – not only meeting share holder and investors’ targets and attracting occupiers, but also future-proofing the buildings themselves.

This might sound like a leap, but by weighing up carbon emissions with ROI and operational requirements, you can turn ESG targets into a strategy for long-lasting, attractive assets.

Much has been said about Scope 1 and 2 emissions – greenhouse gases from the fuel that organisations use and those generated by the electricity they buy. However, an area with potential for even greater impact is Scope 3 – the emissions that result from activities that the reporting organisation can influence, but does not directly own or control, such as building materials, process and packaging equipment suppliers, logistics and supply chain activities.

Starting with site selection, deciding whether to retrofit or demolish used to be a question of asset value and whether it was fit for purpose. Now, the carbon cost of demolition and material disposal has become a critical part of the decision-making process.

Refurbishment has consistently outstripped new build over the past four years, according to Deloitte’s London crane survey, with refurb volumes double those of new builds in the first quarter of 2024. This isn’t just in commercial projects – office and industrial conversions have been increasingly attractive options for laboratory and manufacturing projects.

While retrofitting former office space to labs brings challenges in the form of increased ventilation and services supply requirements for ceiling heights, (the higher ventilation rates required and additional services requirements mean that void space tends to be larger for labs to make room for ducting and piping), the significant embodied carbon savings make this a highly effective way to bring down Scope 3 emissions.

Where demolition is unavoidable, understanding the implications from a carbon accounting perspective, as well as knowing how to sustainably dispose of the waste materials is imperative.

As builds become more complex and reporting on carbon emissions is part and parcel of new industry standards, having a team with the skills and experience to meet these challenges is vital. Establishing relationships with contractors and suppliers who make sustainability a priority will allow you to ensure that every link in the chain supports the overall ESG goals of a project.

A good model for achieving this is the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which allows suppliers to report and measure their progress using globally aligned benchmarked standards. This strategic alignment not only tracks progress effectively but also drives suppliers to adopt similar sustainability measures.

Developers also need to consider their choices when it comes to suppliers and materials, factoring in ROI, Scope 3 emissions and operational requirements. For instance, opting for timber cladding rather than aluminium is less carbon-intensive, but the perceived fire risks and the material shedding make timber unsuitable for pharmaceutical projects, which need to be kept free from contaminants to meet regulatory requirements

More sustainable materials can also come with a bigger price tag. Regulators and insurers are still catching up with the carbon agenda, while supply chains for reused materials remain nascent and can incur additional costs from compliance testing and storage.

At an operational level, opting for continuous construction technology, such as the use of modular manufacturing, is a useful solution to overcoming these challenges. Using modular units brings down project timelines and reduces emissions from onsite transport.

Linesight was recently brought on board for a new manufacturing facility in Toulouse, France, for Evotec biologics, for which we worked on a contracting strategy to meet the project’s unique sustainability agenda. This facility was designed with J.POD technology modular pod units, leading to a dramatically compressed construction time compared with that of traditional biologics manufacturing facilities. According to Evotec, it is the first of its kind in Europe, and the second in the world.

Another goal of the technology is to adapt to changing manufacturing needs with adaptable shell and core designs ensuring functionality over time, while keeping embodied carbon low. This allows you to sweat your assets for longer, reconfiguring them in line with changing user needs and avoiding the need for carbon-intensive future demolitions.

With investors and occupiers looking for buildings with the highest standards, incorporating ESG into life sciences is not just about compliance, it’s about creating a sustainable future that adds value for years to come.