Pharmaceutical Architects

Pharmaceutical Architects and Engineers

PharmOut’s team of pharmaceutical architects and designers have extensive experience in designing:

• Pharmaceutical, medical device and complementary medicine manufacturing and distribution facilities
• Hospitals and other medical facilities
• Nuclear medicines facilities
• Blood & tissue banks
• Health science research and animal laboratories

Our design approach for Manufacturing Facilities

Designing the building for the process – not the other way around

Buildings are often built first and then the process shoe-horned into the available space. This creates workflow and regulatory compliance issues. Our process engineers ensure they understand the process first before designing the facility. Our approach is based on ‘Quality By Design’ (QbD) principles, where we use any laboratory scale up or tech transfer data available. We also ensure there is a “loose fit,” permitting future expansion and the inclusion of other operations later on.       Read about our GMP compliance services.

Designing for People

Our pharmaceutical architects will ensure regulatory compliance, and we use a process or people-centered approach when designing a new facility or renovating an existing one. This approach includes:

• Eliminating architectural barriers or impediments to interaction, participation and collaboration, promoting a non-institutional workplace
• Creating an environment which promotes nurturing, compassionate, personalised care and provides support for the families of patients, and for hospital employees
• Creating positive distractions, using music, gardens, art and water features to create an atmosphere of serenity and playfulness
• Promoting patient or staff education through the provision of resource centers and information kiosks in appropriate locations
• Providing facilities that allow families and friends to support patients
• Considering the local community which the health facility is a part of.  This includes working with stakeholders to determine their needs and how they will interact with the facility

Promoting Multi-disciplinary Collaboration

Our facility designs also aim to promote collaboration between the disciplines by:

• Creating unique, highly collaborative, and engaging spaces where staff from different departments can work with each other or be in close proximity to patients
• Promoting maximum transparency between departments
• Creating a vertically and horizontally connected community both visually and physically
• Creating social spaces within the building that connect different groups that might not otherwise interact
• Locating departments and functions vertically and horizontally to encourage movement through spaces and levels

Our team of Pharmaceutical Architects can help with your 3D visualisation

As part of our design process, we create 3D ‘fly through’ computer models of the facility. This allows the facility owner to see what they are getting. It helps the design team identify any problems and it helps the builders see what they need to build.

All too often clients want to squeeze way too many activities into a room, unlike arranging furniture at home, our 3D modelling allows one to quickly visualise the space and not make obvious errors.

Considering Technical Innovations

When designing a health care facility, our architects also consider the use of technical innovations such as nurse-call systems, telemedicine and self-check-in outpatient systems.

Within a manufacturing facility it might mean designing to include rapid microbiological methods for controlled spaces or water systems.

Without considering these technologies as part of the design process you may end up with a facility that makes it very difficult to install them during the build or later on.

Infection/Contamination Control

In health care or GMP facilities infection or contamination prevention and control should be considered from the earliest stage of planning and design. This includes considering the:

• Placement and installation of fixtures and fittings
• Movement of people and equipment
• Storage of (and access to) equipment and consumables
• Personal protective equipment (PPE),
• Used and unused linen (disposable or re-usable),
• Waste, including clinical / procedural waste, sharps, landfill, and recyclable waste.

Attracting and Retaining Employees

Providing a great working environment is a key factor in attracting and retaining the best employees.

To provide staff with a comfortable working environment, we employ designs that maximise the operational efficiency of the space available – we think about work flows and organisation methods such as 5S.  Of course, human safety is also a top priority in our designs.

When designing a hospital, we ensure that nurses can easily see and hear patients at all times. We also provide quiet areas for staff to collect their thoughts or do work that requires intense concentration.

Simple things like good lockers and washrooms, with adequate changing areas also make a difference. In a GMP facility there are also regulatory requirements to consider for these areas.

Including up to date equipment and technologies that make life easier also make for a happy workforce.

Adaptable Facilities

The concept of ‘future-ready’ challenges the traditional building approach to future proofing. Most designs allow spare space, or inbuilt capacity for future expansion and adaptation. Our approach delivers an adaptable building that can be altered, or re-used, or even completely change its fuel source, without adversely affecting the operation of the facility.

This approach allows facilities to expand and/or contract its various departments and sectors within the confines of the building in response to the changing needs of the business over the life of the facility. This future-readiness will give extended life to the facility.

Get in Touch

If you would like to learn more about our services, request a quote or ask any questions please fill out our enquiry form here.

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