Interim laboratory during refurbishment – rental containers as a bridging solution

The most expensive decision in every refurbishment project is not taken with the architect, but with the research manager, consultant or QC manager: what happens to live operations? A major refurbishment in university and clinic buildings typically lasts between eighteen and thirty-six months. Anyone who shuts down research, diagnostics or production in that period risks six-figure third-party funding losses, departing doctoral students, lost study patients and – in the accredited or GMP area – suspension of the accreditation or manufacturing authorisation.

Interim containers are the only practicable bridge. They do not replace the main laboratory – but they keep operations in the critical functions running without a gap. This article shows when an interim laboratory makes economic sense, how the permit path to the state building code runs, how sensitive analytical instruments relocate without damage, how re-qualification to IQ/OQ/PQ works and which rental models are realistic.

Fact table: the regulatory framework for interim laboratories

Anyone who installs an interim laboratory in Germany during a refurbishment moves between building-control law, occupational safety, sector-specific requirements and accreditation or GMP rules. The following overview is required reading for the pre-project phase.

Why now: the refurbishment backlog 2024–2030

Demand for interim laboratories rose sharply in 2024 – and it will dominate the next five years. Three drivers act in parallel. First, the Building Energy Act (GEG 2024): tighter refurbishment duties apply to public estates, forcing universities and university hospitals into envelope insulation, window replacement and heating replacement. Second, the special fund for education and research and Art. 91b GG resources, which have financed research-building refurbishments on a large scale since 2023. Third, the massive building stock of the 1970s to 1990s: many universities, clinics and industrial research centres date from this phase and are now reaching the end of the refurbishment cycle.

Concretely that means: where a laboratory could previously keep running because only a plant room was refurbished, a whole wing or a complete building now goes into multi-year construction phases. The question “Where do we work during the refurbishment?” becomes project-critical – and it often only reaches the table once the architectural competition has already run. Anyone who only then starts planning an interim solution loses six to nine months of lead time – and with it often the entire next third-party funding round.

The six typical refurbishment triggers

From our project experience in the DACH region we know six trigger groups that almost always create demand for an interim container.

First: energy-related major refurbishment. GEG 2024 forces envelope insulation, window replacement and heating replacement. In the laboratory building that usually also means an HVAC renewal, because new insulation overloads the existing ventilation. The result: floor-by-floor emptying over six to eighteen months per construction phase.

Second: fire-protection upgrading. The Model Building Code and state building codes require proof of current fire-protection requirements on a change to the existing building. Fire-compartment formation, F90 walls, sprinkler systems, redundant means of escape – a laboratory building from 1985 generally does not meet that. As soon as the fire-safety concept is implemented, operations on the affected floors cannot be maintained.

Third: HVAC and cleanroom upgrading. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have been under refurbishment pressure since the EU GMP Annex 1 update (in force since 25 August 2023): Contamination Control Strategy (CCS), extended environmental-monitoring requirements, tighter room concepts. Anyone converting a sterile manufacturing suite cannot run it alongside – the batch has to come out, and the interim laboratory takes over analytical support and, if required, pilot batches.

Fourth: contaminant remediation. Asbestos (TRGS 519), man-made mineral fibres (TRGS 521), PCB, mould, fire-damage substances after a cable fire – in laboratory buildings before 1995 the probability is high that at least one of these contaminants appears when fabric is opened. The result: immediate emptying and a multi-week to multi-month remediation site.

Fifth: structural upgrading on change of use. When an office building is converted into a laboratory – a growing trend at start-up incubators in 2024–2026 – the higher imposed load (laboratory furniture, instruments up to 1,500 kg/m²) often requires strengthening of the floor slabs. While the slabs are opened, the floor is unusable.

Sixth: flood or fire damage. The unplanned variant – flooding (most recently the Ahr valley 2021, southern Germany 2024) or a laboratory fire (rare, but grave when it happens). Here every hour counts: we have several times handed over interim containers ready for use on site within 96 hours of the enquiry.

Decision matrix: when does the interim container pay?

Not every refurbishment justifies an interim container. The decision falls along four axes: refurbishment duration, value-creation loss per day, critical functions, regulatory binding.

Rule of thumb from practice: as soon as at least two of the four axes speak for the container, the interim solution is economic. As soon as three or four speak, it is without alternative.

Permit path: temporary structure or special building?

The most important permit question is: is the interim container treated as a temporary structure to §76 MBO or as a regular special building? The answer depends on size, installation period and type of use and decides three to six months of permit duration.

Temporary structure (§76 MBO): buildings intended for repeated erection and dismantling. The type approval is granted by construction type and can be used nationwide – once tested at the manufacturer, only a use inspection remains at each installation site. Classic case: temporary event laboratories, mobile diagnostic laboratories in disaster protection, show containers for trade fairs. Permit duration: two to four weeks on site.

Simplified procedure (§63 MBO): the relevant path for many interim containers. Only planning-law admissibility and fire protection are checked; the remaining building-control responsibility lies with the authorised designer. Permit duration: typically six to twelve weeks, markedly faster with prior coordination.

Procedure-free status (annex to §61 MBO): some federal states (e.g. Bavaria, Saxony) allow containers up to certain size classes or installation periods without a permit – but not for laboratory operation as soon as hazardous substances, biological agents or genetic-engineering work arise. In practice: procedure-free status only for office or storage containers on existing works sites.

Full building application as a special building: mandatory as soon as BSL-2 or higher, GenTSV level 2 or higher, radiation-protection areas or extensive hazardous-substance storage are intended in the container. Permit duration: four to eight months – this is the path that belongs in the refurbishment pre-planning.

Pad: three location classes in practice

Where the container stands decides staff routes, sample logistics, services routing and crane access. In practice three location classes work.

Class A – courtyard or yard of the existing building. Staff and samples take the same route as before, only two doors further. Services connection (electricity, water, data network) is generally possible via the existing building. Bottleneck: pad area limited (often only one or two modules), crane access through a gateway or over the roof with a large mobile crane required. For bearing capacity of the yard, DIN 1054 applies with a typical allowable bearing pressure of 150–250 kN/m².

Class B – adjacent car park or outdoor area. More pad area (four to ten modules possible), simple delivery with a standard articulated trailer and a 50- to 100-tonne mobile crane. Bottleneck: longer service runs (typically 30–80 metres), often a dedicated transformer station or at least a separate medium-voltage take-off required. Staff routes become longer (60–150 metres), sample logistics with a refrigerated container or a small electric vehicle.

Class C – a site in the nearer vicinity. Only worthwhile on major refurbishments, because complete staff mobility and daily sample logistics arise. In university cities often realisable on a neighbouring hospital site or in a research park. Bottleneck: organisational effort, data-network connection by fibre or VPN tunnel, security concept for sample transport (especially with BSL-2 material or GMP samples to ADR Class 6.2).

Instrument relocation: the underestimated critical path

The container is in place – now the instruments have to go in. And this is exactly where many interim-laboratory projects fail. High-resolution analytical instruments tolerate neither shock nor temperature change nor improper decommissioning.

Three instrument classes need particular attention. Mass spectrometers (LC-MS, GC-MS, ICP-MS, MALDI-TOF) require manufacturer service for dismantling, vibration-isolated transport and multi-week recommissioning including recalibration. Service costs per large instrument typically €8,000 to €25,000, downtime two to six weeks per instrument – that belongs in every honest interim plan. NMR spectrometers with superconducting magnets are a special case: demagnetisation and remagnetisation are so onerous that in many cases they remain at the existing site, with constructional containment during the refurbishment. Climate cabinets and stability chambers (ICH Q1A) must under no circumstances leave the storage conditions – that means either mobile refrigerated transport with a data logger or a double inventory for the interim period.

For all other laboratory instruments (HPLC, UV/VIS, FTIR, PCR cyclers, microscopes, centrifuges, incubators) a qualified laboratory move with documented decommissioning, packing, transport and installation at the new site generally suffices. Re-qualification runs by the categories IQ (Installation), OQ (Operation), PQ (Performance) and is documented with a standard operating procedure depending on accreditation or GMP status. For accredited test houses, DAkkS must be informed under the AkkStelleG – material changes at the site may trigger an on-site assessment at the interim location.

Data continuity: LIMS, IT and accreditation

While staff and instruments relocate, the data must continue without a gap. In the laboratory today that is no longer witchcraft – but it must be planned.

LIMS connection: modern laboratory information systems run on central servers and are usable identically at the new site via VPN, MPLS or a direct fibre connection. The hardware locations change; the data holdings do not. A redundant connection (fibre + LTE/5G backup) is advisable, because a network outage in the interim container stops laboratory operations immediately.

Data integrity to ALCOA+: the FDA requirements on data integrity (Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, Accurate, Complete, Consistent, Enduring, Available) apply identically in the interim laboratory. Audit trails of the instruments and the LIMS must be without gaps – including the relocation day. Best practice: we recommend a documented “frozen period” of 24 to 48 hours per instrument, in which no GMP-relevant measurements arise, and in parallel a complete audit-trail backup.

Accreditation notification: for accredited testing and calibration laboratories to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 the site change must be notified to DAkkS under §13 AkkStelleG. On material changes an on-site assessment at the interim location follows – this should be scheduled six to eight weeks before commissioning. For GMP areas the competent state authority (regional council, district government, state office) must be informed in parallel; a change notification of the manufacturing authorisation to §13 AMG may become necessary.

Rental models: what is in the price

Rental contracts for interim laboratories follow three typical structures, depending on refurbishment duration and cost bearer.

Short rental up to 12 months: classic rental model with a monthly rate, one-off erection and dismantling costs, transport, services connection. Advantage: maximum flexibility, no locked-up capital. Worthwhile for partial refurbishments of individual floors or for damage events.

Long rental 12 to 48 months: reduced monthly rate, often with inflation adjustment. Worthwhile for major refurbishments of complete research buildings or clinic construction phases. Typical equipment classes range from a standard lab container (basic HVAC, laboratory furniture, sink, fume cupboard) to a BSL-2 container (pressure cascade, HEPA, airlock).

Hire purchase: the rental instalments flow in part into a later purchase price. Worthwhile for organisations that wish to keep the container as a permanent extension after the refurbishment – often in growing research areas or with permanently increased sample throughput. The detailed terms are set out in the separate article lab containers: rent or buy.

Regularly included in the rental: the module with standard equipment, erection and dismantling at the pad, transport within Germany, services-connection packages (electricity 63 A/125 A/250 A, water, wastewater, data-network patch panel), HVAC maintenance, insurance. Not included: ground slabs or pad foundations (client’s work to DIN EN 1997), permit fees, instrument relocation, re-qualification IQ/OQ/PQ, customer-specific special equipment (e.g. cleanroom ceilings to DIN EN ISO 14644-1, microbiological safety cabinets to DIN EN 12469, refrigerators to DIN 58375).

Three interim scenarios from practice

Scenario 1 – university research institute, GEG major refurbishment: a life-sciences faculty in southern Germany faced a thirty-three-month major refurbishment of a research building from 1989 in 2024. Third-party funding volume around €6 million per year, of which about 70 per cent was bound to running experimental series. Solution: eight modules of interim containers (two BSL-2, six standard research laboratories) on an adjacent car park, services connection via a separate medium-voltage take-off, LIMS connection by fibre, DAkkS site change notified, re-qualification of all instruments over six weeks on a rolling basis. Effect: third-party funding continues unbroken, no staff reduction, no loss of doctoral students.

Scenario 2 – university hospital, HVAC upgrading of the central laboratory: a hospital had to empty its central laboratory (clinical chemistry, haematology, microbiology) for fourteen months because the ventilation plant was fully refurbished. Daily sample throughput around 4,500 samples, of which 1,200 emergency samples with a 60-minute turnaround. Solution: six modules of interim containers in the courtyard between the ward block and the functional building, sample logistics via a pneumatic-tube connection, full BSL-2 microbiology, ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation assessed at the interim location. Effect: no transfer to external laboratories, emergency diagnostics available unchanged.

Scenario 3 – industrial QC laboratory, fire-damage reinstatement: a mid-sized chemical manufacturer lost its quality-control laboratory to fire damage. ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, GMP authorisation to §13 AMG, daily batch releases. Solution: four modules of interim containers delivered and installed within 96 hours of the enquiry, existing instruments taken over from the neighbouring pilot laboratory, re-qualification completed in two weeks, notification to DAkkS and the regional council in parallel. Effect: batch releases possible again within three weeks, delivery obligations held.

Strip-out and close-out: what happens after the refurbishment

As soon as the refurbishment is complete, close-out runs in four phases. Phase one: instrument strip-out at the interim location, return transport into the refurbished building, fresh re-qualification at the original site. Phase two: decommissioning of the interim containers, cleaning, documentation for subsequent use. Phase three: strip-out of the service runs, ground-slab strip-out on a hired foundation, reinstatement of the pad under the client agreement. Phase four: removal of the containers, final acceptance, final invoice. Usual time allowance for the strip-out: four to six weeks from emptying.

Anyone who wishes to keep the interim container – as a permanent extension, as a surge laboratory for peak loads or as a specialist container for a special function (e.g. a permanent BSL-2 module) – switches at the end of the refurbishment from the rental to a hire-purchase or purchase contract. That has been a growing trend in the last five years: what began as a bridging solution becomes a strategic extension.

Conclusion

Interim containers are no longer an emergency solution – they are the professional tool for running refurbishments without research downtime. Anyone who asks the interim question early (in parallel with the refurbishment tender, not after it), chooses the permit path cleanly, sets up instrument relocation with IQ/OQ/PQ re-qualification professionally and secures data continuity from LIMS to accreditation without gaps, gains two things: a smooth refurbishment and a competitive advantage over every organisation that suspends operations for eighteen or thirty months.

The investment in an interim laboratory pays back in practically every case in which regulatory bindings, third-party funding obligations or delivery contracts must survive the refurbishment period – that is the case today in almost every university, clinic and industrial-research refurbishment.

Frequently asked questions on the interim laboratory

About the author

Related articles