Laboratories and pharmaceutical facilities: design, permitting and construction

Design, municipal permitting and construction

WALLNUT brings the design, engineering disciplines, municipal permitting and construction of the building together under one contract, coordinated in BIM. See services and how one contract for design and construction works.

Classified rooms: published experience

The pharmaceutical production and R&D campus in Pegões, Montijo has two buildings under two contracts. It has classified rooms, one-way flows, pressure differences and traceability. WALLNUT was responsible for the architecture, 15 engineering disciplines drawn in house and both construction contracts. Process equipment and the operating licence remained with the client. Read the campus record.

Work with the facility operating

Offices and a technical workshop for a laboratory-equipment company, Cartaxo — work in progress (2026), carried out with the facility operating: work windows with no dust or noise next to mass spectrometers, ESD (antistatic) rooms, industrial epoxy flooring.

Our work in this sector

Every one of these has a page with what we were responsible for, what we were not, and the measurements behind both.

• 

  Two buildings, two commissions, one client — Nexzen · Pegões, Montijo
  Built · Design and construction by WALLNUT

Design-led: selected work

Every project begins as a design problem, not a construction quote: restraint and material honesty over decoration, resolved in full BIM. Under a single design-and-build contract, the studio that designs it also builds it, so the design reaches handover intact. Selected work includes two completed buildings on the Nexzen pharmaceutical campus in Pegões.

Frequently asked

Do you take on interior architecture, engineering disciplines and construction?
Yes. The integrated scope brings interior architecture, engineering disciplines and construction together under one contract, with BIM. See services.

What experience do you have with pharmaceutical cleanrooms?
The work 600 in Pegões, Montijo has classified rooms with one-way flows, pressure differences and traceability. It comprised two buildings and two contracts, with architecture, 15 engineering disciplines drawn in house and both construction contracts. Read the campus record.

Can we keep the facility operating during construction?
At the Cartaxo precedent, the work is under way with the facility operating, using work windows with no dust or noise next to mass spectrometers. The conditions of each facility decide whether that approach is possible.

Does permitting include the pharmaceutical operation?
The scope includes municipal permitting. On work 600, the operating licence remained with the client.

Does the contract include GMP certification or room qualification?
The scope is the design, engineering disciplines and construction of the building and its systems; GMP certification and room qualification remain with the client and its validators.

Do you have experience with ESD rooms and epoxy flooring?
Yes: the anonymous Cartaxo case under way in 2026 includes ESD (antistatic) rooms and industrial epoxy flooring.