Free tool for sustainable design projects: case study on health research public laboratories

Abstract Health research laboratory buildings need to comply with building regulations and biosafety standards, according to the type of laboratory proposed. In Brazil, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a reference center in health research, has been developing projects that address issues related to sustainability. It has proven to be a difficult task to combine sustainability requirements for public buildings with biosafety requirements. This article aims to investigate the potential use of a free tool for assessing sustainability in the built environment of health research laboratory installations, which are usually located in public buildings, as well as to examine to what extent these installations meet biosafety requirements, through an evidence-based approach. In order to do this, the researchers used the case study of a design for a laboratory building of Fiocruz that must meet biological safety requirements of risk NB-3 and sustainability through the free evaluation SBTool. The resulting analysis matrix indicates that the dictates of biosafety bring restrictions to the design of the laboratory installations and still impose limitations for sustainability. Despite some restrictions, the proposed tool may reduce public spending on commercial certifications.