Guardtech Commercial Director Mark Wheeler has seen the business landscape shift immeasurably over the past 12 months – but he and the Guardtech Cleanrooms team are not prepared to sleepwalk through it. Instead, they've been using their expertise to help businesses tackle the COVID-19 crisis in a variety of different ways.
"Our needs are different now," he added. "There's no time to waste. Immediate solutions are required – flexibility and adaptability are more important than ever before. When it comes to COVID-19, it's literally a matter of life and death."
One of the greatest areas of concern has been the UK's deeply troubling shortage of laboratories – as well as workspaces for COVID-19 testing and diagnostics. Large-scale construction projects often require a great deal of time and money – and many institutions and businesses have seen their finances wrecked by the pandemic.
But the nature of Guardtech's work is all about tackling challenges and devising innovative solutions, and they're busy providing controlled environments, labs and COVID-19 testing units right now. "Many firms don’t have the resources to tackle the problem," continued Mr Wheeler. "But Guardtech Cleanrooms are offering solutions. We're helping businesses. And our work is undoubtedly, albeit indirectly, helping to save lives."
Guardtech specialise in controlled environments, and they've used that expertise to create two immediate solutions – CleanCube portable cleanrooms and ISOPOD modular cleanrooms.
So what is a CleanCube portable cleanroom?
A cleanroom built to the same quality standard as any of Guardtech's large-scale modular builds, but within a mobile format. The CleanCube comes in three forms – box vans, shipping containers and modular buildings. Containers come as 20ft or 40ft units and the vans are either 3.5 or 7.5-ton vehicles and can be internally fitted out to meet the requirements of bio-safety laboratories (BSL 1, 2 & 3), COVID-19 testing stations and COVID-19 diagnostic labs, as well as standard temporary ISO 5, 6, 7 and 8 cleanrooms. Guardtech have been turning around these portable cleanrooms in a matter of weeks since the spring of 2020, and they have been used as mobile COVID-19 testing units by elite sport competitions, major film and TV production companies and far beyond, right across the UK, as well as for research, analysis and diagnostics.
How have CleanCubes helped with the national lab shortage crisis?
Mr Wheeler explains that the development of the CleanCube began with a mission – to assist clients that had the capability and resource to provide testing and diagnostics for tackling COVID-19, but didn’t have the platform to deliver their services.
"They approached us about the CleanCube range to see if we could give them an expedited product to get them up and running with transportable testing facility in as little as three weeks, and we were more than happy to accept the challenge," he says. "The key with the build is a fast, off-site constructed module, built to the same high standard of a modular cleanroom, with no compromise on materials or specification, but creatively designed to make best use of a compromised footprint."
The containers have proved to be a popular choice for 'fixed installations' – clients requiring on-site scale testing of employees and visitors to keep their businesses safe and operational – while the box vans have typically been used for applications that require more flexibility to deliver across numerous locations.
In what other ways have Guardtech made a difference during the pandemic?
The company's response to the COVID-19 pandemic stretches far beyond CleanCube mobile cleanrooms and COVID-19 testing and diagnostics. Guardtech’s construction expertise initially saw them become involved with the ‘ventilator challenge’ – when at the beginning of the crisis these vital machines were scarce. The Haverhill-based firm soon found themselves not only working with manufacturers producing ventilators, but also those directly supplying vital components for the life-saving machines.
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"This involved repurposing facilities in super-quick time and providing our engineering skills to critical suppliers," Mr Wheeler continues. "One project that sticks in my memory was with an Aerospace company – we worked with them to upscale manufacturing, on a project which included a canteen conversion into a new production space for valves that were to be used in the Dyson ventilators, all within the space of a week.
"One part of that project was to overcome the challenge of getting components to the first floor of the building. The client presented the problem on the Wednesday afternoon, we designed a bespoke lifting solution on the Thursday morning, ordered the components in the afternoon and on the Friday and Saturday the whole company were involved in fitting these bespoke product lifts – made from components that were sourced in an extremely narrow timeframe."
The next phase of COVID-19-related projects that Guardtech became involved with focussed on upscaling British-manufactured PPE.
"I'm sure everyone remembers the negative press about the woeful shortages of PPE in the NHS," Mr Wheeler recalls. "It all stemmed from an inadequate domestic PPE supply chain – due to the fact that almost all PPE is manufactured abroad and imported. I come from a very proud heritage of British manufacturing and PPE production – Guardline [the company originally founded by Guardtech owner Ray Wheeler] were a UK manufacturer of protective garments, and they were still producing PPE in the UK until 2015. So we were proud to get the opportunity to work on cleanroom design & build projects for face-mask manufacturing in the UK and Ireland, supported by government funding to upscale PPE capacity quickly."
As the nature of the pandemic developed, so too has Guardtech's influence and level of responsibility – with activity relating to testing, diagnostics and vaccine delivery coming to the fore. The company are currently involved in a large-scale design & build project for a COVID-19 testing re-agent facility that will support the national testing effort even further, and they've provided more than 20 mobile testing facilities for PCR testing. Mr Wheeler adds: "We're really proud to have been able to support businesses in their endeavour to upscale UK lab capacity and we’ll be building a good many more of these units in the coming months."
And what about ISOPOD modular cleanrooms?
CleanCube portable cleanrooms have offered one solution to the lab shortage crisis, but it's not the only option Guardtech have presented to the market. ISOPOD is their revolutionary new concept in modular cleanroom design & build – high-performance controlled environments which can be self-assembled and are fully customisable to best utilise the host room they are installed within. Combining high-quality construction materials with state-of-the-art cleanroom technology, ISOPODs are the perfect solution to upgrading Healthcare and Education facilities, as well as Production environments and R&D applications, in a sustainable, practical and cost-effective way.
"ISOPOD is essentially a flat pack cleanroom," explains Mr Wheeler. They're manufactured to the same quality standards, with most of the same components, as any of our high-quality modular cleanrooms, but in a simplified manner that facilitates either quick installation or self-assembly by end users. The units are customisable, configurable, extendable, can be relocated and are available in hardwall, softwall or hybrid formats."
Guardtech's Design and Installation teams have spent a great deal of time working out the minutiae of the ISOPOD offering, standardising a lot of the components so they can hold a decent level of stock in the UK – meaning these cleanrooms can be available in just a matter of days.
"We noticed that there was a gap in the market for rapid-installation cleanrooms that were produced to a very high build specification," he continues, "and so our aim was always to enter the marketplace with a product that could compete on price, but that also encompassed the heart of our brand, which is a high quality standard."
Mr Wheeler added that, while it was imperative the company played its part in helping the national effort, there was also scope for Guardtech’s signature products to make an impact globally.
"CleanCube is a product that is well primed to be produced in the UK and shipped to foreign territories, but we are also working with a number of distribution partners across the globe, and actively seeking more, to bring our ISOPOD range to an international market," he says.
So what does the future hold for Guardtech and beyond?
Mr Wheeler admits that "it's very difficult to make any predictions in this climate”, but he is backing the Cleanroom industry to play a massive role in helping to shape best practice in a range of sectors going forward". He insists that "contamination control is suddenly an area that is gaining a great deal of traction" and that "a lot of our business comes from response to regulation imposed on businesses" and the requirement for them to consider good manufacturing practice and adopt best practice to satisfy clients and auditors. He is now backing the Cleanroom industry to 'lead by example'.
"In today's world, control is the new norm," he says. "Risk management, segregation, considered work spaces, controlled environments, filtration – these are all terms that are being adopted on a far wider basis than ever before and it is the responsibility of industries such as ours to lead from the front and share our vast experience with those that are new to this arena.
"I believe that over time we will see a new wave of industries adopting upgraded production environments, seeing this step as a responsible way to protect staff in production environments and as an added safeguard against the risk of potential downtime."
And what about Guardtech’s design & build operations?
Ultimately, there need to be firms with the knowledge, experience and expertise to design and construct these new upgraded production suites – and Guardtech's Operations Director Conor Barwise believes his team are well placed to assume the mantle. Mr Barwise has a long history of completing large-scale construction projects and he recognises that, right now, many businesses and institutions need quicker solutions – starting with those high-quality cleanrooms and labs of which the country is so starved.
"Our CleanCube and ISOPOD products allow us to do what we do best – only with more haste and flexibility," he says. "But our high-end design & build cleanroom projects are what we’re known for. We recognise that, particularly amidst this crisis, our clients need labs in a matter of weeks, not months. And we're proud to offer those solutions – which we know are already helping to protect businesses and their staff up and down the UK – and beyond. But we're still extremely active in terms of construction projects, with a number of large-scale jobs currently underway, and we know that going forward these big design & build projects will become our main focus once again.
"And so we're looking forward to the challenge of equipping businesses in the UK, Ireland and beyond with top-quality controlled environments that help to protect product and staff, ensuring high-standard results, whatever the needs of your business."
For more information on Guardtech's high-quality cleanroom design, construction and commissioning services – as well as their associated market-leading products – email sales@guardtech.com or call 0330 113 0303.
www.guardtechcleanrooms.com
