Lessons learned in several laboratory upgrades

When upgrades occur in a laboratory, the construction project team generally turns to the lab management for the list of functional requirements. Lab management understands the research requirements but may not fully understand the facility and operational requirements. This deficiency may impact safety, costs, and timely project completion. In recent upgrades for standby power at the Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) laboratory, three important lessons were to consider all operating modes of the newly installed equipment, seek out personnel with knowledge of similar lab upgrades, and budget time to work with designers and constructors.