Will today’s life science facilities still work tomorrow?

Ramboll’s new guide, ”Future-proofing your life science site”, looks at the early decisions that can help life science manufacturers protect long-term value as billions flow into new production capacity across the US, the UK, and Northern Europe.

In the US, global drugmakers have announced close to $500 billion in manufacturing, research, and supply-chain investments. The UK is backing new life science manufacturing through public funding and programmes designed to attract private investment. Across Northern Europe, countries including Denmark and Sweden are building on strong life science and pharmaceutical manufacturing positions.

Those numbers attract attention, but buildings have a habit of lasting much longer than business plans.

A facility being planned today may still need to support the business ten or fifteen years from now. By then, the product mix may have changed. Production volumes may be very different. The next process may require more power, different utilities, another cleanroom setup, or different flows of people and materials.

Anders Hummer, Global Life Sciences & Pharma Sector Lead Director at Ramboll, says: “A facility can be completely right for the business case you have today and still become a constraint surprisingly quickly. The real challenge is to make sure today’s decisions do not close off the options the business may need tomorrow.”

The guide focuses on four connected areas: site selection, energy, water, and future-fit operations.

A site that looks perfect on paper

Imagine a site that looks perfect on paper.

There is room for the first production phase. Water and electricity are available. The building fits the process.

Then comes phase two.

The grid cannot support another production line. Wastewater becomes a constraint. The cleanroom concept is difficult to adapt. A utility route planned years earlier is now exactly where the next expansion needs to go.

These problems often come from sensible decisions made one at a time. That is the thinking behind Ramboll’s guide.

“Grid, water, utilities, cleanrooms, permitting, and operations eventually meet in the same place: production. If we optimise them separately, we risk creating problems at the interfaces. That is where some of the most expensive surprises appear,” says Anders Hummer.

Maximum flexibility can consume capital

Life science projects constantly balance cost, scope, schedule, and quality. Quality matters because a facility can be completed on budget and still fail to create the intended value if it cannot support reliable, compliant production.

A lower-cost solution can become expensive if it makes qualification, validation, GMP compliance, resilience, or future expansion harder. Equally, maximum flexibility can consume capital for options the business may never need.

“Cost, scope, and quality need to be looked at together,” says Hummer. “A lower-cost solution is not necessarily a better investment if it creates problems for qualification, compliant production, resilience, or expansion later.”

Future-fit does not mean building everything now

Future-fit planning is about choosing carefully where flexibility matters.

Site access, grid capacity, water routes, structural dimensions, utility corridors, cleanroom strategy, and major permitting pathways can become difficult to change later. Other investments can be phased as demand and the business case become clearer.

“Future-fit does not mean building everything now. It means understanding which options are difficult to recover later, protecting those, and allowing the rest of the investment to follow the business,” says Hummer.