As any construction firm in the cleanroom industry can attest, the market has changed rapidly in the last decade and the speed of that change has only escalated across the last few years.
For PCI, the answer to the question above came through a new office in the right market—the PCI New England branch in the Boston area, opened in October 2021. The new branch specialises in the pharmaceutical/life science and microelectronic cleanrooms.
PCI had been working with the New England Market from their Albany, NY, branch office since 2015. Their teams developed relationships with Massachusetts-based labor and foreman, but as the work grew, the need became clear for a home base to support field staff, as well as for connecting with customers and general contractors more quickly. As PCI Vice President of Operations Shawn Burnum puts it, “We are very excited to establish a permanent presence in the New England area. We believe it is an excellent opportunity to solidify current relationships and build new ones while continuing to innovate and delivering top value to the market.”
Our team completed a full tenant improvement facelift inside, as well as making space for our new modular mock-up cleanrooms
But finding a brick-and-mortar office in the Boston, MA, area that would meet the branch’s needs took some work. “It wasn’t easy to find a space with an office and warehouse all in one property that met all of our requirements,” said PCI Construction Manager Jason Teets. “Our team completed a full tenant improvement facelift inside, as well as making space for our new modular mock-up cleanrooms.”
With completion approaching in July 2022, each 300 SF cleanroom will be constructed using two different leading panel manufacturers and all the features of an operating Cleanroom—modular wall panels, self-supported walkable ceiling panels, glass wall panels, HEPA terminals, light fixtures, doors, windows, electrical/process utility panels, interlock functionality, and more. Teets plans to utilise the mock-ups to display new innovations, as well as the products and services that PCI offers. “Since the Boston/New England market is one of the world leaders in the life science industry, we believe these mock-ups will benefit everyone in the cleanroom construction community.”
PCI New England achieves safety and efficiency through innovations. With modular panel construction, projects can be completed quicker and safer. In addition, Teets believes that their best tool is being brought on before construction even begins. “Our approach to providing an architectural turnkey cleanroom build is the Design/Assist component.” Teets explains. “We work directly with our general contractor customer, the facility owner/end user, and the project architect to take a conceptual cGMP manufacturing cleanroom space to an IFC design. We then turn the conceptual design into a more easily-buildable and fully-certifiable cleanroom.”
Those IFC designs come from PCI’s team of BIM design experts, lead by Scott Kluegel. The team’s visuals help customers bring their products to market faster than traditional procurement methods by allowing the contractors to work through logistics, schedule, shop drawings, and long lead items prior to IFC release. The need for this accelerated model is greater now in the post pandemic market.
Including the Design/Assist component in project scope packages is becoming more common as the PCI team helps share its benefits. “Our dedicated team has been showing their entrepreneurial spirit and connecting with current customers and meeting new ones at many industry organisation functions, like ISPE shows.”
Learn more about the innovations and team at the PCI New England branch, as well as PCI’s nationwide service, at PerformanceContracting.com.
