Science lab and prep room design

Local Authority Architects departments are no longer responsible for planning and specifying school science prep room and science lab design, today that function has now been assigned to planners, specifiers and very often facilities managers too.

The problem is, school science areas are a very specialised area. And if you don’t have the right information to hand, you could find yourself having to deal with a number of storage, management and health and safety issues that arise from poor planning.

It is estimated that 21% of all current school science prep rooms are of poor standards and 43% only reach basic level. And the standards are not getting any better.

For example, at the end of last year, a new Academy was completed at a cost of £23 million pounds and equipped with £210,000 of new science equipment. However, due to inexperience, no thought had been given to science storage with the result that boxes and shelves were installed that were totally unsuitable for a science prep room. The result was an absolute disarray, disruption and disorder. The equipment suppliers and technicians contacted Gratnells in an attempt to rectify the situation, and although Gratnells were able to remedy some of the major prep-room storage errors, it is likely that the Academy will be blighted with poor science storage throughout its future.

Our mission is to educate, inform and even partner with the decision-makers like yourselves who are likely to plan, specify and be involved with school science prep rooms, so that preventative measures can be taken before a school science project gets underway, helping to steer the building of prep rooms towards successful completion.