Blackburn BB1 3AL
New State-of-the-Art Research Facility for Science in Sport
Science in Sport plc is a leading sports nutrition business that develops, manufactures and markets innovative nutrition products for professional athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts and the gym lifestyle community.
SiS was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in London, with their manufacturing facility based in Blackburn Lancashire. Both of their brands PhD and SiS, were founded in the UK, and they are proud of their heritage.
Today, SIS products are available in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. While SIS has grown at an unprecedented rate, the company’s commitment to science, innovation, and quality hasn’t wavered.
In the UK the company is the official sports nutrition partner to over 320 elite athletes and professional sports teams including INEOS Grenadiers, Tottenham Hotspur and The Milwaukee Bucks.
The Brief
As part of their ongoing commitment to grow the business to £200 million annual revenue, SIS planned to develop a state-of-the-art research facility to enable performance testing of elite athletes and the development of new science-led products.
During Nov 2021 Innova was approached by SIS NPD Group Manager to develop and cost the designs for their new NPD Lab, NPD store, Analytical and Pilot rooms. The key elements required by the client ensured workflows were optimized as detailed below:
NPD Laboratory
- Maximum worktop space
- Fully enclosed storage, with no open shelving
- A decent section of full height larger units, including one that we can house an oven and microwave
- Two large sinks to accommodate washing up of large mixing bowls
- For the “office” area within the lab, three desk positions for people to work at and wide enough for dual screen configuration.
- Additional 3-4 places where visiting colleagues can hot desk
- Storage solutions for coats etc.
Analytical Laboratory
- To house Osmometer and Rheometer
- Optimise the space with base & wall cabinets and allow for maximum worktop space.
Innova’s designer surveyed the space and developed the layouts to final approval including incorporation of the instruments in the Analytical Lab. On colour selection the designs were finalised and passed to our Technical team to prepare the CAD files for manufacture.
The Solution
Working closely with the client, Innova’s designer developed a bespoke layout for both the NPD and Analytical Labs providing large workspaces for the technical staff to carry out their R&D activities with plenty of scope for visiting colleagues to hot desk.
The NPD and Analytical laboratory have been designed to support R&D as well as testing activities, with perimeter benching and storage to house equipment.
"I was extremely happy with the professionalism and skills of the site team. It was really refreshing to deal with people who really cared about the products they were delivering. The Innova team completed the furniture install to an excellent standard and took real pride in their work.
Our labs look great and exceed our expectation".
Ample storage has been incorporated into the rooms to keep the environment clutter free and easy to maintain for visitors and client workshops.
A dedicated open office area within the NPD Laboratory provides flexible desk space for three people to carry out day to day activities.
For work surfaces Trespa Toplab Base was specified, which is a perfect worktop for frequent usage and regular cleaning, especially where chemical resistance is essential.
Steel blue, easy to maintain polyfloor was also installed in all the Lab areas making it ideal for high-traffic areas.
Following a £7.2m investment, the new five-acre site supports 180 staff and comprises of three key areas: 52,000 sq ft of production space with the capacity to produce 127 million gels and 21 million powder units, respectively ; 101,000 sq ft of logistics operations; and 10,000 sq ft of office space for employees across all business functions.
The new facility is vital to the company’s long term growth plans.
Contact
Are you looking to develop commercial laboratories for employees to excel in? Contact us on 0161 4775300, email hello@innovadesigngroup.co.uk or complete the form below.