Start with the process, not the panel system.
A modular cleanroom is a construction route, not a performance specification. Define the activity, people and material flows, equipment, contamination risks, occupancy state and target classification before choosing a system. ISO 14644-4:2022 covers the route from requirements and design through construction and start-up for new, refurbished and modified cleanroom installations. The design basis should also record any sector-specific GMP, medical-device, laboratory or product requirements.
- ✓Process and contamination-risk assessment
- ✓Target classification or grade and occupancy state
- ✓Room data, equipment and utility requirements
- ✓People, material, waste and maintenance routes
Choose the enclosure around the control requirement.
Rigid hardwall cleanrooms are usually the stronger option where pressure relationships, secure access, durability, intensive cleaning or integrated services are important. Softwall cleanrooms can provide economical local particle control inside a suitable host room. Freestanding pods and local enclosures sit between those choices. Compare pressure control, containment, cleaning, impact resistance and future change rather than treating every modular system as interchangeable.
- ✓Hardwall rooms and suites
- ✓Softwall and localised clean zones
- ✓Freestanding pods and enclosures
- ✓Expandable or reconfigurable layouts
Price the complete controlled environment.
A panel rate is not a cleanroom price. A usable scheme can include partitions, ceilings, doors, glazing, cleanroom flooring, air handling, terminal filters, controls, lighting, power, gases, fire interfaces and building alterations. It also needs space for plant access and maintenance. Ask each specialist to identify what is included, excluded or supplied by others, so apparently similar quotations can be compared on the same basis.
- ✓Walls, ceilings, doors, glazing and floors
- ✓HVAC, filtration, pressure control and monitoring
- ✓Electrical, process utilities and controls
- ✓Builders' work, installation and access provisions
Specify the whole wall and ceiling system.
Facings, core material, joints, trims, penetrations and supporting structure all affect cleanability, durability and fire performance. Our cleanroom wall panels guide sets out the evidence to request. Fire strategy decisions should be coordinated with the building and relevant authority; in England, the current Approved Document B provides statutory guidance. Do not rely on a single component label where the performance of the assembled system and its interfaces matters.
- ✓Panel facing and core specification
- ✓Joints, coves, trims and sealed penetrations
- ✓Ceiling loads, access and suspension strategy
- ✓Fire, acoustic and impact-performance evidence
Design the installation around the host building.
A site survey should confirm dimensions, structure, slab condition, service routes, plant access, delivery restrictions and the condition of the surrounding space. For live sites, agree dust control, segregation, shutdowns, permits and protection of existing operations. UK commercial clients also have duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, including suitable appointments, sufficient time and resources, pre-construction information and appropriate management arrangements.
- ✓Measured survey and service coordination
- ✓Delivery, lifting and plant-replacement routes
- ✓Phasing, shutdowns and live-site controls
- ✓Construction plan, responsibilities and programme
Plan commissioning and evidence before installation.
Agree the tests, acceptance criteria, witnesses and documents while the design can still be changed. Airflow balancing, HEPA-filter integrity testing, room-pressure checks, controls verification and airborne-particle classification may form part of the handover package, depending on the brief. A cleanroom commissioning plan should also cover defects, training, operation and maintenance information, calibration records and the route to ongoing monitoring and requalification.
- ✓Commissioning and test schedule
- ✓Acceptance criteria and witnessing
- ✓As-built drawings, manuals and training
- ✓Maintenance, monitoring and requalification plan
Issue one clear brief and compare like with like.
Give every shortlisted specialist the same user requirement, room data, layout, equipment information and site constraints. Ask for a written design basis, responsibility matrix, assumptions, exclusions, programme and evidence schedule. Cleanrooms Direct can use that information to route the project to relevant UK modular cleanroom specialists, helping you compare complete proposals rather than isolated products or headline rates.
- ✓Common user requirement and room data
- ✓Design basis and responsibility matrix
- ✓Assumptions, exclusions and change control
- ✓Programme, testing and handover deliverables