Balfour Beatty builds Covid mega lab

Balfour Beatty is building UK’s biggest Covid-19 testing lab testing laboratory in Royal Leamington Spa for NHS Test and Trace.Awarded through the Crown Commercial Services framework, Balfour Beatty is constructing the new 225,000 sqft Rosalind Franklin Laboratory.Adopting a modular approach to the construction process means that the lab in Leamington Spa has already begun operating this week while construction continues.As Balfour Beatty adds another section, so testing capacity is ramped up.On completion later this year, it should add hundreds of thousands of tests to the UK’s daily Covid-19 testing capacity.Works include the construction of a series of laboratory lines within the facility as well as the associated welfare and waste management facilities. Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick is providing mechanical and electrical works.Balfour Beatty previously put together the in-house laboratory at the Manchester Engineering Campus Development and the temporary NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow.Contract value was not disclosed.# COVID-19