For many Deep Tech founders, the question isn’t simply “wet lab or nothing”. It’s whether an existing office space or building can be pushed far enough to support meaningful technical work without stepping into the cost and complexity of a fully serviced wet lab.
What Is a Dry Lab?
While dry labs come in all shapes and levels of technical complexity, the term “dry lab” is often used as a catch-all term to describe a lower-spec lab space than a wet lab.
Generally, dry labs:
- Have less strict environmental control
- Are set up to accommodate work involving fewer hazardous materials
- Have more modest ceiling heights and lighter building services
- Are more cost effective and quicker to set up than a wet lab
The activities — and therefore equipment — in a dry lab reflects that. For example:
- Electronics test and measurement workstations
- Laser tables
- Medtech device testing and prototyping
- Materials testing rigs
While physics-focused dry labs can accommodate all the fundamental science behind a product, chemistry and biology work demands a different approach. In biotech particularly, that fundamental science typically remains in a wet lab environment where hazards and environmental conditions can be more tightly controlled.
Dry Lab vs Wet Lab: Key Differences
Wet labs are designed to support work involving chemicals and/or biological hazards. They are designed to provide:
- Management of chemical and biological waste streams
- Managed extraction and ventilation
- Specific circulation routes
- Higher levels of environmental stability
- Higher ceiling heights
Dry labs tend to sit much closer to the office end of the spectrum. They assume work with lower risk hazards and have fewer building services in place, which means they can often be delivered in buildings that would never support a full wet lab.
For some companies, this creates a natural split where fundamental science and bench testing of the product or device is done in a wet lab, and the minimum viable product (MVP) iteration moves into a dry lab. At that stage, the question isn’t “does the science work?” but “how does the device behave in practice?”
Examples of Dry Lab Workflows
A diagnostics company might operate a benchtop instrument at MVP stage inside a dry lab, with the wet element — for example, a small blood sample — prepared elsewhere. The dry lab work involves running the device, building out patient datasets, refining firmware or hardware, and iterating the product.
For the physical sciences, dry labs are commonly used to develop devices, optical and radio-frequency sensors, and imaging systems — all of them requiring careful measurement, stability, testing and good environmental control, but not fume cupboards or biosafety cabinets.
Even many quantum-enabled devices fall into this pattern. Quantum is a technology type that spans multiple sectors, and many quantum imaging or sensing systems are developed in environments that look much more like dry labs than wet labs.
Things To Consider When Thinking About a Dry Lab Conversion
Not every office is a good candidate for conversion; but a few practical considerations can usually reveal if your workspace is suitable.
Power Requirements
Power is often the first constraint. An office that was never designed for lab use may:
- Lack three-phase supply
- Be limited by the landlord’s distribution board
- Have a relatively modest total load allowance
It may not be as simple as adding more sockets. If your equipment has significant current draw, you may be looking at significant rewiring work rather than minor adjustment.
Heat and HVAC
Power eventually becomes heat. A typical office space might assume a cooling allowance of:
- Around 25 W/m² for small power
- 10–15 W/m² for lighting
- Approximately 90 W per person working in the space
Introduce continuous equipment loads in the hundreds of watts or kilowatts, and the existing cooling system may not cope with dissipating the heat load.
Office HVAC systems are often controlled centrally by a building management system (BMS) sometimes on time clocks. That means the temperature is likely to fluctuate during the day and week. If your equipment requires ambient stability — or simply produces significant heat outside of core ‘office hours’ — additional cooling may be required.
That can introduce:
- External condensers
- Planning considerations
- Licence to alter agreements
- Higher operational energy costs
This is often where hidden costs and time delays emerge.
Hazards and Circulation
Office buildings do not have dedicated “dirty” lab corridors. If hazardous materials need to move through communal routes used by general building occupants, you need to be realistic about whether that is appropriate. If you regularly handle:
- Hazardous solvents
- Biological materials
- Clinical samples
That work is unlikely to sit comfortably in a converted office space without significant management controls — and in many cases will remain better suited to a wet lab.
Access and Geometry
Physical constraints are often overlooked until late. Converted office spaces may have:
- Single standard-width doors
- Tight circulation routes
- Lower ceiling heights
- No goods lift, or passenger-only lift
This can limit the size of apparatus you can bring in or remove. Dedicated lab environments are more likely to provide wider door apertures, higher ceilings and better access for palletised deliveries.
Planning an Office-to-Dry-Lab Conversion
If the space appears viable, careful planning becomes critical.
Start with Workflows
The first question should always be: what activities are happening in the room? Define:
- Equipment
- Hazards
- Movement of materials
- Interaction between team members
- Future growth
What works today may not work in six months. Converting space is an investment, so future-proofing — or at least having a clear expansion plan — is important.
Zoning and Co-Location
Dry labs often sit alongside office desks. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, interaction matters.
For example, is the equipment in the dry lab creating levels of noise that are disruptive for an office environment? Are there unwelcome smells coming from dry lab activities, such as adhesives or paints? Or even more critical — if a dry set up involves lasers, are all stray beams safely stopped?
Managing hazard location and movement relative to office zones is equally important. The aim is not to eliminate all risk, but to avoid unnecessary mixing of activities.
Security and IP Protection
Converted dry labs frequently open onto communal corridors with lighter access control than dedicated lab wings. Consider:
- Door security
- Access control systems
- Visibility from outside if the spaces has external-facing windows
- Protection of sensitive setups and intellectual property
Security is partly about external risk, but also about internal building access.
How Constraints Differ by Company Type
Different Deep Tech teams hit different constraints first.
Biotech and Device Teams
Dry labs often become relevant once a company has progressed through early TRL stages and is focused on device development and data collection.
Hazard profile and compliance requirements determine how much activity can leave the wet lab environment.
If biological or chemical hazards remain significant, or if strict environmental control is required, wet lab space will still likely be necessary.
AI and Data-Heavy Teams
For AI-focused teams, the main constraints are typically:
- Network stability
- Bandwidth
- Compute access
- Resilience and uptime
The critical question becomes how data flows from the working environment to wherever computation is happening — whether locally or in the cloud.
Hardware, Optics and Sensor Teams
For hardware-focused teams, vibration, access, beam safety and heat are often the key considerations.
If hazards remain manageable and building services can cope, an office-to-dry-lab conversion can work very effectively.
Cost, Timelines and Trade-Offs
Dry lab conversions are often chosen because they are:
- Cheaper than wet labs
- Possible in city-centre buildings
- Achievable within existing building stock
At the simplest end, a conversion might involve ESD-safe benches and modest electrical work.
At the other end, it may involve vibration-isolating floors, gas supply, significant electrical upgrades and cooling plants.
There is no single price point. It depends entirely on hazards, environmental control and equipment load.
What often increases cost — both OpEx and CapEx — and timeline are:
- Electrical upgrades
- Cooling plant installation
- Legal approvals
- Planning processes
- Operational energy consumption
These are manageable, but only if identified early.
Case Study: Converting Office Space into a Dry Lab for Materials Testing for Kelpi
A practical example of an office-to-dry-lab conversion comes from Kelpi, a materials innovation company and member of Science Creates developing sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging.
Kelpi’s core product development work continues to take place in a wet lab, where the underlying chemistry and material formulation are developed. However, once materials reach the testing and iteration stage, much of the work can be carried out in a dry lab environment.
To support this, Science Creates worked with the Kelpi team to convert a 600 sq ft office within the Science Creates Old Market building into a combined office and dry-lab testing space.
The aim was not to replicate a full laboratory environment, but to create a practical, cost-effective space suitable for materials testing and product iteration.
The Science Creates team assessed the available options and proposed several adjustments to accommodate Kelpi’s requirements, including their need for an air compressor. The resulting conversion included:
- Installation of a lab sink to support testing workflows
- Ventilation adjustments to the building HVAC system to provide more stable temperature control in the space
- Additional electrical sockets to support testing equipment
- Reconfigured lighting to properly illuminate the materials testing area
Kelpi also introduced a number of practical elements themselves, including suitable garage matting to protect the floor and workshop benches for testing activities.
The result was a hybrid workspace where office desks and testing equipment could coexist in the same room, while the company’s wet lab remained focused on core R&D activities.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Dry Lab Conversions
How Much Does It Cost to Convert an Office into a Dry Lab?
It depends on power, environmental stability, hazard profile and access requirements. Conversions range from relatively modest fit-outs to significant building service upgrades.
Can I Convert a Co-Working Space into a Dry Lab?
In some cases, yes. It depends on the operator’s risk appetite and the underlying building services.
When Should a Deep Tech Startup Invest in a Dedicated Dry Lab?
When standard office space constrains technical progress — but hazard profile and environmental requirements do not justify a full wet lab.
Final Thought
Dry lab conversion can extend runway compared to fitting out a wet lab and make use of widely available office building stock, but it works best when the limits of power, cooling, hazards and access are understood upfront, not discovered during installation — or worse, after moving into and starting to use the space.
For many teams, the question isn’t whether a dry lab is possible, but whether it’s viable in a specific building, at a specific load, and with the workflows they need.
Considering an Office-to-Dry-Lab Conversion?
If you're assessing whether your current office can realistically support technical work — or whether you’re about to sign a lease with conversion in mind — it’s worth validating the fundamentals early.
Science Creates supports Deep Tech teams in two ways:
- Incubators: Dry-lab-capable environments designed to accommodate devices, electronics, materials testing and data-heavy workflows without major building upgrades.
- Development: Independent feasibility support for companies converting their own space — pressure-testing assumptions around power, cooling, access, hazard management and future growth.
If you’d like an initial view on whether your proposed setup is workable, get in touch to discuss your space and equipment requirements. Early feasibility typically costs less than late-stage redesign.
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