Design/Build

Speed. Every trend today is in some way tied into reducing the time required to get a plant constructed and licensed. For instance, traditionally the time required to construct a biotech facility, from the beginning of conceptual design until the facility is licensed, is about five years. This five-year window puts tremendous pressure on drug manufacturers to begin projects early in clinical trials where the risk of drug failure is still high. Reducing this window, allows manufactures to wait longer to begin projects thus lowering their risk, or conversely, to complete the project earlier and enjoy extra months or years of patent protection.

In its strictest sense, design-build means the firm that designs the facility also builds it. The owner defines the user requirements and the design-build firm agrees to build the facility for a given cost. Once the contract is signed, the design-build firm has financial responsibility to deliver the facility, often with bonuses or penalties tied to the project schedule. Since the design-build firm has money on the line, there is less day-to-day intrusion from the owner into the construction process. The design deliverables are generally less voluminous than in a traditional design-bid-construct project since the same team is involved in both design and construction and the design cost is included in the lump sum price. Design deliverables are produced in smaller packages as required by construction, which allows construction to begin much earlier in the project cycle. The advantages are typically lower cost, less risk for the owner, and schedule reductions of several months.

Biokinetics' design-build approach expedites project completion by offering single-source responsibility for delivering a validatable system that meets high-quality standards in less time and at reduced cost.