IMEG provided engineering design for Valent BioSciences Corporation’s new Biorational Research Center at Innovation Park Lake County in Libertyville, Illinois.

Under Phase 1, Valent, a maker of environmentally friendly pesticides, built out 65,000-sf of dedicated lab and office space at Innovation Park as a replacement for its existing multiple-building research site in Long Grove, Illinois. The self-contained, state-of-the-art research center brings the company’s chemistry, biology, microbiology, fermentation, and formulations labs under one roof. The new facility — which also includes a 10,0000-sf greenhouse — is located just down the street from Valent’s global headquarters. Several of the laboratories are dedicated to an insectarium and are governed by APHIS regulations.

For Phase 2, an additional 26,000-sf of research space was built as well as another 10,000-sf greenhouse.

Since the research center is located within a 1.2 million-sf multi-tenant facility, the lab’s systems tie into the building’s existing chilled water plant for cooling and into the existing electrical capacity for heating and power. The research center also uses the campus’s existing fire alarm system, sprinkler system, domestic cold water, and nitrogen distribution.

In addition to tying into existing systems, challenges included renovating an existing space not originally designed as a wet laboratory; routing ductwork from the first-floor lab through
the second floor (not part of the Valent space) and onto the rooftop; and achieving pressurization control for the lab spaces.

The design called for existing rooftop AHUs to serve Valent’s back-of-house spaces that include offices, storage areas, and a refrigerator farm. A dedicated AHU with energy recovery was
added on grade to serve the lab spaces, which were outfitted with low-flow fume hoods. Variable air volume on all systems reduce airflow rates to save additional energy. A new pure
water system was added and boilers were installed to provide steam for the research center’s fermenters and autoclaves.

IMEG also provided all-LED lighting design, telecom design, cabling specifications for the project security consultant, and MEP design for the greenhouse.