Design, Engineering & Environmental Services for Public and Private Entities
November 2026 High-Profile Focus: Life Sciences 11
DPR Converts 275,000-SF Bedford Office Building into Life Sciences Facility
Converted lab in Bedford, MA / Photo by Warren Patterson Photography
Bedford, MA – DPR Construction has converted a 275,000sf office building in Bedford into a lab, office and pilot plant facility for a life sciences company. The project consolidates teams that were previously spread across Greater Boston.
The facility includes QA / QC and process development labs, production and engineering support space, warehousing, offices, and conference and employee amenity space.
Converting the building to lab use required more than 450 tons of supplemental steel to reinforce 100 of its 300 bays. The work also included modified joists and framing, additional foundation piers and higher-capacity generators.
“ We had to basically build a building
Transformation of a 275,000sf office building into a state-of-the-art lab, office and pilot plant Photo by Warren Patterson Photography
within the building,” said Mike Forth, project executive at DPR.
DPR used design-assist and target value delivery on the project. Structural engineer GPLA’ s rapid analysis tool evaluated point loads within 24 to 48 hours. DPR also used virtual design and construction( VDC), laser scanning, model-based quality assurance and an augmented-reality QA / QC tool.
After about eight months of cost discussions, the final cost came in within 1.8 % of the initial conceptual estimate. DPR organized trades into dedicated teams focused on the labs and turned over 11 critical labs four weeks early. The client began operations a month ahead of schedule.
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