It goes without saying that when working with temperature-sensitive products and samples, it is vital that they are stored at their optimum temperature. After all, even a small change in temperature for an extended time can impact the quality of your samples, if not ruin them completely. This is where a temperature monitoring system provider, like Contronics, steps in. The Contronics system is designed to monitor, measure and track the temperature of your products and samples, ensuring they stay at optimum temperature 24/7. This article will discuss the main 4 benefits that come from investing in a temperature monitoring system like this for your organisation.

Alpha Laboratories Ltd. (Eastleigh, UK) is excited to announce that its eco-conscious pipette tip products, Fastrak® and FastZAP™ have received third party verification from the non-profit organisation “My Green Lab®”. ACT certification emphasises Accountability, Consistency, and Transparency around manufacturing, energy and water use, packaging, and end-of-life. This makes it easier for labs to choose more sustainable products, by looking for those with lower ACT scores. Developed with sustainability as a priority, the Fastrak and FastZAP pipette tip refills received very low environmental impact scores (1.0) for manufacturing. This was achieved due to the energy, water, and waste reduction programmes of the production facility, plus, the on-site solar energy system that can produce anywhere from 800,000 to 1.2 million kWh of renewable energy annually. Fastrak product and packaging content also scored 1.0 since the products have been dematerialised and are manufactured using raw materials that contain biobased content as defined by ASTM D6866 and / or pre-consumer recycled content. The cardboard packaging contains recycled content, resulting in up to 80% by weight of sustainable content in the overall packaging system, depending on the specific product. Alpha Laboratories’ offers its UK customers a plastic recycling scheme, thus end of life also received a score of 1.0. Most notable was the -1 score for Innovative Practices due to Alpha Lab's LaboraTree tree planting scheme, that is available to all users of Fastrak or FastZAP tips. Please visit www.alphalabs.co.uk/ACT for further information or contact Alpha Laboratories on 0800 38 77 32 or email marketing@alphalabs.co.uk

Envair Technology are proud to hold a Constructionline Platinum accreditation. This confirms our commitment to best practices and compliance, demonstrating the rigorous standards we uphold for governance, risk management, environmental policies, quality management, health and safety. When working with us, our clients can be sure they are partnering with a robust, reliable and thoroughly vetted company, operating to the highest industry standards. Not only does this verification pre-qualify Envair Technology to work with some of the UK's biggest public and private sector businesses, it also streamlines their procurement process and instils confidence in our project delivery capabilities. If you’d like to know more about working with us, please visit our website, email enquiries@envairtechnology.com or come and see us at Lab Innovations, Stand D50.

As a laboratory monitoring solutions provider working closely across multiple sectors including the NHS, we’re thrilled to be recognised as one of the trusted suppliers within the CDHS framework. We look forward to using our position within this framework to expand our reach while continuing to provide reliable laboratory monitoring solutions that protect valuable products and samples, reduce unnecessary costs from sample loss and ensure compliance with industry standards.

We're thrilled to announce that we have recently implemented a new Environmental Management System and received our ISO 14001 accredited certification as a result. ISO 14001:2015 is a standard that enables the assessment of environmental risks, aspects, and impacts of our operations with strategies to protect the environment and reduce waste. This achievement enables our company to set essential objectives to uphold our commitment to reducing our environmental impact by lowering energy use and striving for carbon neutrality by 2050.

In February 2026 Staff members braved the cold with rangers from Eastleigh Borough Council as part of the PLANT Eastleigh tree planting scheme. Over 35 staff hours were invested into this tree planting session, helping plant an estimated 200 trees. This consisted of a native mix of species to help support growth and biodiversity in the area. In January 2026 We are proud to have our near-term and Net Zero targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Re-enforcing the company’s belief in our sustainability goals as we strive towards an achievable, better and more sustainable future for our industry. Read more on our Achieving Net Zero page. https://www.alphalabs.co.uk/company/corporate-social-responsibility-and-sustainability/planet/achieving-net-zero-and-our-carbon-footprint As of October 2025 we are Partnering with REACH Social Foundation. We’re excited to announce our partnership with REACH Social Foundation, a local charity near our HQ that empowers adults with learning disabilities and Autism through creativity, skill-building, and meaningful employment. Read more on our charities page, https://www.alphalabs.co.uk/company/corporate-social-responsibility-and-sustainability/people/charity Alpha Labs hosted our second beach clean for staff at the end of September – tagging onto the end of the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Great British Beach Clean 2025’. 15 of our employees went out to explore the beach around Portchester Castle and clean the area of litter. Much of the rubbish here is swept in by the tides and trapped in the seaweed ashore. This made for a variety of finds, larger items such as clothing, fishing netting and large pieces of plastics to smaller items such as bottles, coffee cups, plastic lids and even a metal spoon was found in the pebbles and sand. We are grateful to all participants for getting involved and helping keep our environment clean and safe!

At Alpha our actions are driven by our People, Planet, Culture strategy. All 3 pillars are associated with multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), helping highlight the areas where we can have a positive impact.

The team at WMG, University of Warwick, are at the forefront of world leading research into next generation recycling capability, with a particular focus on lithium ion batteries used in electric cars. As their research into recycling batteries is highly specialised, WMG decided to modify some existing laboratory space to meet the requirements of their research scientists. They asked suppliers to offer solutions for keeping users protected from dangerous gases and fumes. The chemistry experiments involved in this research often produce hydrofluoric acid (HF), so they required two wet scrubbed LEV arms to neutralise the HF before evacuating it to the atmosphere plus two standard LEV arms, as well as a filtered and ducted fume cupboard for additional user protection. An extra requirement was for a highly customised walk-in fume cupboard designed to fit around existing equipment. As specialists in bespoke fume cupboard design and installation, Envair Technology were delighted to rise to the challenge of this brief. Our unique engineered solution allowed the wet scrubbers to be attached to LEV arms, and safely handle HF, whilst remaining compliant with the requirements of BS EN 14175. Click the link above to discover the full details of this finished project, including scrubber system with fully automated dosing system, bespoke walk-in fume cupboard with easy access ramp and a specially adapted ducted fume cupboard designed to accommodate benchtop experiments where certain chemicals could not be exhausted to the atmosphere.

The Lasdun Wall is undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment to enhance its teaching and research capabilities. Construction firm Mace, who secured the contract for the first phase of the redevelopment, selected Envair Technology as its clean air and containment partner. Phase One of the project will include 4 floors dedicated to laboratory and teaching facilities. Envair Technology’s scope includes the production of energy-efficient, variable air volume (VAV) fume cupboards – addressing specific challenges such as the restricted ceiling heights in the refurbished building – and a percentage of Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliant units. The installation of these units is scheduled for the first quarter of 2026. Todd Payne, our Commercial Manager for Fume Cupboards, said: “It’s fantastic to be working with the UEA this exciting project. This will see us supply a variety of fume cupboards that will protect researchers and students while they work in the newly redeveloped laboratory spaces. Each unit is designed using our VAV technology to ensure safety and energy efficiency.” Clare Cole, Assistant Director of Estates at the UEA added: “The redevelopment of the Lasdun Wall is a pivotal step in ensuring we continue to provide a sustainable and cutting-edge academic environment. Collaborating with industry leaders like Mace and Envair Technology ensures that our infrastructure supports our commitment to excellence in research, teaching and environmental responsibility.” Andrew Ellison, our CEO, said: “We are delighted to be supporting UEA and partnering with Mace, once again, on a landmark project. This follows the recent success of our collaboration on AstraZeneca’s Discovery Centre in Cambridge. Envair Technology have made a series of investments in recent years that have increased our capacity to fulfil orders of this magnitude and, from a personal perspective, it’s great to see those steps have enabled us to become part of this amazing project at UEA.”

At LC Services, we know how costly replacing laboratory equipment can be and the effects downtime can have on your business. With our exchange programme, you can purchase a refurbished part and send us your faulty parts back for a discount. We regularly stock parts and equipment for various chromatography brands including autosampler parts, flow cells, injectors, instruments and others. All our refurbished products are thoroughly inspected by our expert team, ensuring they meet our approved specifications. Not only does this guarantee quality and performance, but reliability too, and all at a fraction of the cost, you could save up to 70% on costs compared to buying new parts. from OEMs. All of our refurbished parts come with a 6-month warranty to give you peace of mind.

As a laboratory and clinically focused company many of our employees are highly educated in the fields of life, chemical and biomedical sciences. We are working with our local communities to share this expertise and help educate and support young scientists of the future. We have partnered with our local sixth form college, Barton Peveril, offering work experience days and educational materials to support the curriculum. Last year our educational materials reached 178 BTEC students and continues to be circulated. Having received such positive feedback, we have been working with Barton to produce another targeted at the A-Level science students. The Alpha Aspire programme has been developed to help support our local community college. This project is hosted at Alpha HQ and invites students who have a career interest in the scientific or medical industry to learn through hands-on activities and talks with field experts.In 2023, we had 62 science students attend, with an additional 4 media students who spent their time with our marketing department. 2024 saw a new approach to our Alpha Aspire Programme, where we hosted 1 day on our premises; hosting practical sessions and career talks, and the second day was conducted at Barton Peveril College with several Alpha staff supporting a practical in blood collection. Since 2018 Alpha Laboratories has been a regularly supporting the STEM Ambassador Programme with supplying a range of laboratory consumables for use on STEM projects. STEM Ambassadors are volunteers from a wide range of science, technology, engineering and mathematics related jobs that volunteer their time, enthusiasm and experiences to encourage and inspire people. In November 2023 Alpha visited Test Valley School in Stockbridge to donate textbooks, microscopes, incubator as well as an autoclave which will allow the students to carry out required practical experiments for GCSE’s

The laboratories typically used by pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, for example, contain a broad range of equipment – including isolators, fume cupboards, downflow booths and extraction systems. These all require energy to operate. If you consider the full lifecycle of the product, they also need to be manufactured in a factory, transported and will require disposal at some point. In every stage of this lifecycle, cleanroom equipment is having an impact on the environment. Any company designing or developing cleanroom laboratories needs to consider these implications before an investment is made. This subject comes up repeatedly in conversations we have with potential customers. It’s as high on their priority list as factors such as overall cost, quality, lead times and return on investment. This is partly driven by ethical considerations. But there are also strong commercial and financial motivations, with pressure coming from consumers, investors and other stakeholders, including employees. This is in addition to growing scrutiny from environmental groups and watchdogs. Governments across the globe are in the process of rolling out legislation that encourages regulators to take action against any company failing to reduce their emissions. This includes the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR). These regulations will increase the environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting requirements placed on large enterprises from next year – and this doesn’t just cover their own operations, it covers their supply chains too. So, being a supplier to many large multinational organisations, the environmental impact of Envair Technology and the products we make is currently at the forefront of our minds. Please visit our website using the link above to find out more, including how the use of variable air volume (VAV) in fume cupboards can help to significantly reduce energy wastage.

Fume cupboards play a crucial role in protecting people from hazardous substances. They offer vital localised exhaust ventilation when dangerous vapours, noxious dust clouds or unpleasant odours are a problem. They can also remove flammable fumes to help prevent explosions. To be truly effective, however, industrial fume cupboards must be crafted to match the purpose they will serve. In teaching environments, such as a university, you are likely to see more basic design cupboards being used. But in industrial settings, the specific needs of the laboratory need to be taken into consideration. In a research and development (R&D), quality assurance (QA) or containment lab, for instance, customisation will typically be needed to accommodate the exact chemicals and compounds being worked with. In pharmaceutical manufacturing, where fume cupboards need to slot into a production line, for a specialised process, you may also find a fully bespoke design needs to be deployed. Engineers must ensure their fume cupboards are fit for purpose. And, if you’re working with a manufacturing partner to build new units, it’s helpful to know the steps involved and where the common pitfalls lie, so you can avoid them. Please click the link above for full details on how to: • Match specifications to applications • Understand ALL user requirements • Try before you buy • Conduct a site review • Test thoroughly • Creating a best-in-class lab To gain a competitive edge and attract top scientists with the best possible working environment, the need to customise is inevitable. Engineers should not be afraid to push boundaries and set high expectations for the performance of their fume cupboards. Creative solutions that are both fit for purpose and compliant are now achievable thanks to technological innovation. Envair Technology are the UK’s leading fume cupboard manufacturer, with the expertise and range of standard and bespoke solutions to suit the requirements of any facility.

IKA Expands HABITAT Bioreactor with New Accessories and Sensors for Enhanced Bioprocessing Staufen, Germany, September 4, 2024 – IKA, a global leader in laboratory and process technology, has introduced a new range of accessories and sensors for its award-winning HABITAT research bioreactor. This 3-in-1 system—bioreactor, fermenter, and photobioreactor—now offers researchers even more flexibility, improved usability, and enhanced data accuracy. “We’ve taken HABITAT to the next level with advanced accessories and intelligent sensors that help scientists achieve faster, more reliable results,” said Dr. Dennis Stibane, Global Business Development Manager for Bioprocessing Solutions at IKA Group. “These upgrades reflect IKA’s century-long expertise and our commitment to customer-driven innovation.”