The mechanical and electrical (M&E) project, headed by contractor Totus, involved the transformation of a 5,000 square metre industrial warehouse into a modern, high-tech laboratory with administration offices. The fast-track project, part of the UK's national testing programme, was completed in under 12 weeks.

The building services for the centre were designed to meet the exacting standards for performance and reliability required by the laboratory, and to ensure the project could be delivered within the challenging timescale. The ventilation system is designed to meet the requirements of Containment 2 (CL2) laboratory classification, providing ten changes of air per hour.

Richard Bell, Director of Totus, who headed the project, said: 'We specified Toshiba as we have worked with the company and its products before and have total confidence in the reliability and performance of the equipment. It was a double reassurance that the equipment was stocked locally, and Toshiba had specialist staff on hand to support the project.'

The Toshiba SHRM-e heat recovery system provides cooling and heating for the centre's laboratories, offices and staff welfare areas. Toshiba VRF condensing units are also used in conjunction with third-party air handling units on the site to provide high- efficiency, direct expansion (DX) capabilities, with a total heating and cooling capacity of 1.3MW.