Life science and laboratory development
Archaeology for Life Science and Laboratory Development in Cambridge
Laboratory schemes combine deep foundations, heavy servicing and fixed occupation commitments, which makes archaeological programme risk unusually costly.
- Cost driver
- Depth and completeness of ground disturbance
- Decide early
- Foundation strategy and archaeological scope together
- Main risk
- Fixed occupation dates
- Typical method
- Full excavation of the affected footprint
Why this scheme type carries the requirement it does
Lab buildings need deep plant space, extensive below-ground services and vibration-sensitive foundations, so ground disturbance across the footprint tends to be deep and close to total. Where nothing can be preserved in place, mitigation normally means excavating the whole affected area rather than a sample of it.
The approach that keeps it proportionate
The archaeological scope should be understood before the construction programme is fixed and, ideally, before foundation design is frozen. Where depth of disturbance can be reduced, archaeological scope falls with it. Where it cannot, the excavation is better priced and programmed early than discovered late.
Questions
Common questions on this
We are pre-let with a fixed handover. How do we protect the date?
By resolving evaluation and the approved mitigation scheme before the construction programme is committed, and by treating archaeological fieldwork as a sequenced programme activity with its own float rather than a risk allowance.
Project review
Archaeology on a life science and laboratory development scheme?
Send the footprint, the depth of disturbance and the planning position. We will set out the requirement and the programme it implies.