Pharmaceutical & R&D Laboratory Furniture
Made to order in the UK for pharmaceutical, life sciences and commercial R&D
We design, manufacture and install laboratory furniture for pharmaceutical, life sciences and commercial R&D clients across the UK, working both directly with end users and as a subcontractor to main contractors. Everything is made to order in our own Essex facility; we hold no stock, as in this sector almost nothing is standard.
The problem with fitting out a research space
A teaching laboratory is specified once and goes on doing broadly the same thing for twenty years, whereas a research facility rarely enjoys that luxury; programmes end, groups move on, techniques change, and a bench that suited a wet chemistry group is often wrong for the instrumentation team who inherit it.
Depending on how much change you anticipate, that argues either for furniture built precisely around a known process, or for furniture designed to be reconfigured without calling a contractor back in. We manufacture both.
Reconfigurable, service-integrated benching
Our FlexModular system was developed with HOK for exactly this problem. Services are carried on a floor-mounted steel spine or a ceiling gantry rather than buried in fixed underbench voids, so benching and cabinetry can be freestanding or mobile and the layout can change without touching the services installation. It was built for the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, a building planned around interdisciplinary teams whose composition was not fixed at design stage, and it has since become part of our standard range.
“ALS Labs Ltd turned the concept into a modular, highly functional furniture range. It has been in use for about a year now, and judging by the user feedback, it is fit for purpose across the board”
Where a space is more settled, our Cleanline and 3R systems give you a fixed installation at lower cost, with the same worksurface and cabinetry options.
Worksurfaces that survive the chemistry
Worksurfaces are the element most often specified badly, largely because the cost difference between grades looks far more significant on paper than the cost of replacing a surface that has failed in service. We fabricate Trespa Toplab in house in both Base and Plus grades, and can advise on where the more chemically resistant grade earns its cost and where it does not, along with alternative materials where the application calls for them.
Containment and extraction
We supply and install fume cupboards, ducted or filtered, and design local exhaust ventilation for both laboratory and process applications. As our Managing Director Gary Sprawling is accredited with the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers, the same team can carry out the statutory Thorough Examination and Test once the system is in service, including on equipment we did not install.
Sensitive instrumentation and controlled environments
For laboratories working with static-sensitive electronics or sensitive instrumentation, we manufacture ESD and antistatic dissipative furniture to order. We also work on sites where discretion is part of the brief; we've delivered for defence and public health clients as well as commercial R&D.
Sectors we work in
Life sciences, pharmaceuticals, defence, public health and education, supporting research across a wide range of disciplines. See our clients and end users or browse the portfolio.
The Roslin Innovation Centre at the University of Edinburgh is representative of the life sciences work: laboratories and incubator space for animal bioscience research, delivered as a subcontractor to McLaughlin & Harvey on a £32m Atkins-designed building.
Manufactured in the UK
Cabinetry and worktops are cut and fabricated in house on CAD/CAM-led HOMAG CNC machinery, with steel framework designed in house and produced by long-standing UK partners. We're a Made in Britain member and Constructionline Gold and Cyber Essentials certified.
In practical terms, UK manufacture means no import lead times and no container risk on a package that typically sits near the end of the programme, and it means a factory you are welcome to come and see.