Lab fit out, laboratory refurbishment and office-to-lab conversion for Oxford's research buildings, planned around live science.
Science and laboratories
The Lynch Brother Group is a laboratory fit out contractor for Oxford and Oxfordshire: new laboratories in shell space, refurbishments of working labs, and office-to-laboratory conversions, for universities and research institutes, spinouts and science companies. Our own teams build the structure, lay the screed and apply the finishes to the lab designer's drawings, and one programme carries the specialist services with them. Tell us what the science needs; we will survey the space before we price it.
A new laboratory built in shell or office space to the lab designer's drawings: partitions and sealed ceilings (no open joints, so they wipe clean), chemical-resistant floors, the service routes for it, and the benching and fume cupboards installed by their specialist suppliers on our programme. See fit out and refurbishment.
We renew a working lab in phases under fit out and refurbishment: floors, walls and ceilings brought back to a cleanable standard, services replaced or extended, and the research next door kept running throughout.
An office floor made fit for science. The engineers check the floor loads, the ceiling height, the plant space and the extract route first. Where the building allows, we add the floor strengthening, cut the risers (the vertical ducts that carry services between floors) and bring in the drainage, extract and power. It can start as office work.
Write-up space (the desks and offices where researchers work away from the bench), meeting rooms, stores, cold rooms by their specialist suppliers and plant rooms, fitted out on the same programme so the whole floor opens together.
Screed by our own screed teams, then resin or welded vinyl with coved skirtings (the floor turned up the wall in one curve, so no corner traps dirt); sealed, washable walls and ceilings; hygienic wall coatings by our own decorating and finishes team.
New laboratory buildings and extensions as main contractor, delivered as new build construction with the same trades in-house.
Repairs and redecoration cycles under planned maintenance, timed around the research and the academic year.
Much laboratory work happens in a building where research is running. We keep dust behind sealed screens and choose the cutting and breaking methods that send the least vibration through the structure. We agree the hours for noisy work with the lab manager. The corridors and escape routes stay open and the neighbours' services stay live throughout.
A laboratory is its services: extract and supply air, fume cupboards, specialist gases, water, drainage and far more power than an office. We build to the engineer's design. The routes and the plant space go in first, and the specialist suppliers install their packages to one programme, so the finishes go in once and stay clean.
Every surface in a laboratory has to be cleaned and to stand up to it. The screed under a coved resin floor and the hygienic coatings on the walls are the group's own trades, done by the people who do them every week. The sealed ceilings and the floor finish go in on the same programme, and the lab is handed over ready for your validation.
Laboratory work reaches us in three forms. A landlord or a science park has shell space to make lab-ready. A research institute or a department has a working laboratory to refurbish without stopping the research. Or a science company has taken an office floor and needs it turned into a laboratory before the next stage of its work begins.
In each case the group's own trades do the structure, the screed and the finishes, and one programme carries the specialist packages with them. Their specialist suppliers install the benching, the fume cupboards, the extract and the gases in the order the site team sets, and every service is tested before handover. There is one contractor to call when the science changes the brief.
We work on the science parks and research campuses around the city and inside university and college estates. There, estates teams, permits and the academic year set the hours, and every delivery is timed to a loading bay shared with a live building.
Some laboratory jobs begin as office work, when a tenant's floor is converted, and continue as planned maintenance once the lab is in use. Our fit out and refurbishment page explains how we run a fit out, and new build construction covers new research buildings.
Science & Laboratories
Lab fit out and refurbishment
Workspace & Offices
Cat A, Cat B and full building refurbishment
Retail
Shopfitting and fit outs that open on time
Hospitality
Refurbishments designed around trading hours
Education
Schools and colleges; summer works a speciality
Student Accommodation
Build and refurb, timed to the academic year
Residential Development
Multi-plot schemes, groundworks to handover
Heritage & Listed
Conservation-grade work on period buildings
How a laboratory fit out runs
Every laboratory is priced from its own survey. Ask us for yours.
Main Contracting
Main contractor and design and build partner
New Build Construction
Offices, labs, education and residential development
Fit Out & Refurbishment
Cat A, Cat B and full refurbishment
Dilapidations
Strip out, repairs and making good, for tenants and landlords
Retrofit & Decarbonisation
External wall insulation, render systems and energy upgrades
Screed, Render & Insulation
Liquid screed, spray rendering and external wall insulation
Decorating & Finishes
High-end decorating and tiling — the final finish
Property Management & Maintenance
Planned maintenance for landlords and businesses
From the site office
A laboratory fit out turns shell space, or an office floor, into a working lab. The building work is partitions and sealed ceilings, chemical-resistant floors with coved skirtings, washable walls and the plant and service routes. The specialist packages are the benching, fume cupboards, extract and gases. A contractor builds the first to the lab designer's drawings and carries the second on the same programme, so the lab opens as one job. Your own equipment comes in after handover.
Yes, and many do. You empty and decontaminate each room and sign it over before we start in it. We phase the work room by room, seal our work area off from the working labs behind dust screens, keep their extract, gases, water and power live, and agree the hours for work that makes noise or vibration with the lab manager. Access, deliveries and shutdowns are agreed with the estates team in writing before we start.
Often. It depends on the building: the floor loading for benches and equipment, the ceiling height for ductwork, the space for plant and risers, a route for drainage, and a way for the fume extract to discharge at roof level. The structural and services engineers assess those first. Where the building allows, we add the floor strengthening, cut the riser openings and bring the drainage, extract and power to the floor.
Containment Level 2, or CL2, is the level of containment the regulations require for laboratories that handle biological agents in hazard group 2. Many research and diagnostic labs are built to it. For the building work it means sealed, cleanable floors, walls and benches, a hand-wash basin near the door and a room that can be locked. The full list comes from your biosafety adviser. We build CL2 laboratories to that specification. The classification is yours and your adviser's.
We price a laboratory per project from the drawings and a survey. The services the lab needs, the containment level, the benching and fume cupboards, the finishes, and whether we phase the work around live research all move the price. The building work follows the same rules as any fit out, which our cost guide explains. The specialist suppliers price their packages, and we carry them on our programme. A laboratory refurbishment is priced the same way, room by room.
A laboratory floor must resist chemicals and cleaning, hold up under benches, and stay safe when wet: resin laid seamless, or sheet vinyl with its seams heat-welded, on a sound screed with coved skirtings, so a spill has nowhere to sit. Walls and ceilings are sealed and washable, with hygienic coatings where the science demands them. Our own teams lay the screed and apply the wall coatings, so the floor finish goes down on a base we prepared ourselves.
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly.
Planning something serious — commercial, residential or a property portfolio that needs looking after? Send the outline and we'll take it from there.
