Genentech, Inc.
B86 Laboratory Tenant Improvement, South San Francisco
This versatile, all-electric laboratory inspires innovation and collaboration while embracing sustainability.
Headquartered in South San Francisco on the west shore of the San Francisco Bay, Genentech’s fully integrated campus is home to its laboratory, manufacturing, and research facilities. A member of the Roche Group, Genentech has been at the cutting edge of the biotechnology industry for over 45 years, pursuing groundbreaking science to develop medicines that offer hope and healing for serious and life-threatening diseases.
Affiliated Engineers, Inc. (AEI) has been collaborating with Genentech for over three decades to design facilities and utility infrastructure that support the company’s inspiring mission and growth. Together, AEI and Genentech have completed over 300 projects, including critical infrastructure upgrades, sustainability conversions, zero-emission equipment, and enhancements to laboratory space.
Transforming a Dynamic Research Facility
After thirty years of pioneering discoveries, Genentech’s Founders Research Center (FRC) on its South San Francisco campus was nearing the end of its lifecycle, requiring updated lab space that aligned with the company’s high standards and vision for the future. To enable phased renovations of FRC Buildings I and II and evaluate sustainable long-term solutions, Genentech leased the warm-shell building at 751 Gateway Boulevard, developing it into an interim laboratory. Designated as Building 86 (B86), the 230,000-square-foot building provides a dynamic research setting with seven floors of laboratories, offices, communal spaces, conference rooms, and employee amenities.
B86 is South San Francisco’s first all-electric laboratory—an important milestone for Genentech’s decarbonization goals
Office spaces and communal areas foster opportunities for serendipitous encounters, enabling collaboration and the generation of new ideas.
For the B86 improvement project, AEI’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and low-voltage engineering services were key to developing infrastructure to support advanced research and development models and promote collaboration among scientists. The flexible, adaptable designs enable quicker conversions to meet evolving research needs while also providing innovative solutions that could serve as prototypes for future updates at FRC I and FRC II.
- 300
- 300+ projects with Genentech
Energy-efficient HVAC, chilled water, and heating hot water systems support program needs while enhancing building performance.
Healthy, Energy-Efficient Building Systems
Designed to achieve LEED Gold®, WELL, and Fitwel certifications, B86 is the campus’s first fully electric laboratory, bringing the South San Francisco campus closer to its goal of achieving 100% sustainable electricity and reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 40%. Improvements upgraded the existing building systems originally designed by AEI to meet the current needs of each space while also enhancing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting occupant health. The building features:
- HVAC, chilled and heating hot water systems, and high-efficiency air source heat pump domestic water heaters to support program needs while meeting humidification, emergency backup, and redundancy requirements.
- Air handling and exhaust systems to ensure proper ventilation and air quality for lab suites, vivarium, and office spaces, with specialty exhaust for H-rated closets and hazardous waste rooms.
- Building automation systems for monitoring energy usage, air quality, and contaminant concentrations, as well as lighting control.
- Electrical systems with standby generator power for all power and lighting within lab suites and a central uninterruptible power supply (UPS) supplying power to all network and select lab loads.
- Piping systems for clean dry compressed air, vacuum, gaseous nitrogen, liquid nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other special gases.
- Deionization water systems to produce and distribute purified water that meets ASTM Type II standards.
Flexible, agile lab designs enable faster conversions to meet evolving research needs.
- 30
- 30+ years supporting Genentech’s vision and growth