Working Together. Delivering for You.
Genentech and South Bay Piping Industry
Partnering on Small Molecule Lab
The research performed in this state of the art facility will improve the health and quality of life of the current and next generation of people the world over. Members of the local student chapter of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers, ISPE, (based at the Loyd E. Williams Pipe Trades Training Center) were recently treated to a tour of Genentech’s nearly complete Small Molecule Lab. The Small Molecule Lab is being constructed in one of eight Research and Development Buildings that make up Genentech’s South Campus facility in South San Francisco.
John Kelly, Genentech Senior Project Manager and Vice President of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of ISPE served as tour guide for the afternoon. John also serves as Advisor to the local student chapter. The group was joined by project managers and other representatives of the general and mechanical contracting firms responsible for the construction of the facility including ACCO and Southland.
The building site is situated on the beautiful shores of San Francisco Bay, offering stunning views to staff and visitors and obviously inspiring creativity and originality. Once inside, the group was awestruck by the sheer volume of piping required to serve the needs of a typical Bio-lab. In addition to the standard water and drain systems, a host of specialty gasses, pure water, low temperature glycol, and specialized fire suppression systems were routed through the walls and ceiling spaces. This type of highly specialized piping construction can only be completed successfully by well educated, properly trained South Bay Piping Industry technicians.
Routing of the various piping and duct systems needed to be carefully coordinated and detailed to fit in the available space, and routed to all the different points of use throughout the lab. A full 13% of the labor provided by the UA craftsmen and women on the job was dedicated to detailing, including the use of QuickPen and Navis Works technologies to provide 3-D renderings of the mechanical and piping systems.
Working from CAD generated shop drawings, UA members prefabricated the piping in the south bay, and then trucked the fab to the jobsite for final installation by these gifted craftsmen and women. All these piping systems must pass a rigorous validation process monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. On site project managers expressed their extreme satisfaction in the productive and professional manner in which the UA members and contractors got the job done.
The research performed in this state of the art facility will improve the health and quality of life of the current and next generation of people the world over.
