But most importantly, we need to design buildings which are resilient and adopt the principles of passive design.

This process is about baby steps, not huge leaps to the end state.. Johnston says we need to “simplify the process, understand, get the foundations right.”.This has to come before we can start to apply other things..

In the past year, COVID-19 has shown us just how much is possible.Marks feels that a behavioral shift is the main element needed to utilise our existing technology to more of its fullest potential.It’s a long game, she says.

This is about product-led thinking and strategic initiatives focused on long-term business health.. “You need an ecosystem of products, ours and other people's, to make this possible, but you first need leadership to give you permission to learn a direction, a strategy, the reasons you're doing this, and that, rarely, if ever, lives in one project.We have to stop this nonsense that we're going to somehow change the world with one project.”.

The people in leadership positions, whose jobs aren’t vulnerable, they’re the ones who need to move this forward.

“You've got to think about the long game,” Marks says, “and whether or not you're going to exist on this planet.”.The people and skills change and there are changes in social and environmental demands.

This uncertainty drives a need for a combination of flexibility and adaptability..The laboratory estate needs to be adaptable in order to be expanded, contracted, and/or repurposed without significant planning issues, cost, time and impact to ongoing operations.

The spaces within the estate need to allow for flexibility in the location of people, processes and equipment, with changes, wherever possible, carried out without the need for engineering and construction.Finding the right balance is a critical factor..