Laboratories in modular construction at the
Max Planck Institute for Marine Mikrobiology

Important aspects under scrutiny 

Based on the good experiences gained at this Institute, the MPG believes there should be further projects using modular construction.

Laboratory construction in modular design

The modular laboratory building at the Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen was handed over on November 11th, 2020. Further pilot projects will now be used to check whether the positive experiences with regard to adherence to deadlines and completion within the submitted cost framework can be repeated without significant project changes. For follow-up projects, it is essential to learn from the negative experiences only made during the implementation and completion of the measure in order to optimize essential processes for construction.

Example of service phases:

The continuation of the planning through to execution, i.e. performance phases five and eight, were commissioned from the executing company, the modular builder, in Bremen. This led to disadvantages in the laboratory construction and a rather imprecise implementation of the functional performance description. The qualitative and functional minimum requirements were described as precisely as possible, but due to the specified product neutrality, they left room for interpretation regarding quality requirements.

For this reason, in the next measure of this type, the MPG will commission the planners of the front phases of the work to provide special services so that they can control the module builder and advise and support the client in the implementation phase and ensure the planning and execution with regard to the required quality and functionality is.

These special services would be included in LPH 8 and assessed with credit points in accordance with the performance profile to be formulated (alternatively, lump sums could be requested). Since these services do not correspond to the basic services of the HOAI for the LPH 8 due to their nature, this is not a double payment. This is the only way to ensure quality assurance during implementation.