Future-proofing your life science site guide

Name: Pharma Facility Resilience Guide
Brand: Ramboll

The decisions made early in facility planning can shape what’s possible later. Our guide looks at four critical areas for maintaining flexibility as needs evolve: site, design, energy and water.

The most expensive question often arrives too late.

A facility planned today may take years to design, build and bring into operation. By the time production lines start running, demand may have changed. Regulation may have tightened. Grid access may be harder to secure.

These decisions depend on each other. Make them one at a time, and each can close off options the others need. Make them together, early, and the facility keeps room to adapt.

Fact: 2,500 GW

Stuck in global grid queues. Power access is now a primary risk in site selection (Source: IEA).

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When clients ask us what makes a life science facility future fit, my answer is usually quite simple: It’s not one single brilliant decision. It’s a set of early decisions that do not conflict with each other down the line.

Bjarke Møller Nielsen

Pharma & Life Science Director, Ramboll

The four levers behind every breakthrough

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1

Site selection

Can this site still operate, expand and secure its utilities in ten years?

A site that looks suitable on paper can become constrained when grid capacity, wastewater discharge, zoning, utility routes and expansion space aren't assessed together.

2

Future-fit design

Which decisions must be fixed early, and which options should stay open?

Flexibility becomes expensive when everything is designed to be adaptable. The value lies in knowing what to fix early, what to phase, and which options to protect.

3

Energy strategy

Can the facility scale production without waiting for the grid to catch up?

In fast-growing life science projects, grid timing can become as important as construction timing. Plan energy around future production, not only current needs.

4

Water management

Is water availability really enough to keep a project moving?

Risks appear late when supply, treatment, reuse, discharge and permitting are handled separately. Together, they decide whether a site can operate, expand and stay compliant.

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Designing future-ready cleanrooms at the Cellerator

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At the Technical University of Denmark, we modelled airflow across the whole cleanroom setup. More airflow didn't mean better performance. See how optimising air distribution improved contamination control, reduced energy use, and let us check key design decisions before construction.

In recent years, impressive advancements have been made in cell therapy research, many with the prospect of curing serious chronic diseases such as heart failure, Parkinson's, and various cancers. However, despite significant results, many promising cell therapy candidates do not reach the clinical phase, partly due to insufficient laboratory facilities. To bridge this gap between early stage development and clinical trials, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has funded a new state of the art facility at the Danish Technical University. Ramble has made the basic design for the entire project in detailed design of main structures for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator, a multipurpose facility combining office spaces with cutting edge process development labs and versatile clean rooms with specialized state of the art equipment for cell therapy development. Cellerator will have everything under the same roof from process development to GMP compliant manufacturing for phase one and two clinical trials, with built in flexibility to adapt to the evolving landscape of cell therapy. Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator will be a global knowledge hub, attracting top researchers from all over the world to advance the cell therapy ecosystem and develop transformative treatments on the necessary scale. Slated to be operational in twenty twenty seven, Cellerator aims to serve public and private researchers across academia, biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical industry, both in Denmark and internationally. Partners from Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia are already lined up, eager to contribute to one of the most promising fields of research in the twenty first century.

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Supporting pharma and life sciences teams across Europe, the Americas, and APAC with the early-stage engineering, energy, and site decisions behind resilient manufacturing.

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Bjarne J. Rasmussen

Global Service Line Director, Life Science & Pharma

Buildings

Anders Hummer

Global Service Line Director - Industry & Infrastructure Facilities, Buildings