Site selection

Selecting and qualifying the location: regulatory jurisdiction, utilities and infrastructure, workforce, supply chain, and the inspection regime the site will live under. A site choice is a regulatory choice.

Purpose

Choose a location that can be built, staffed, supplied, and inspected for the intended product and markets.

Work performed

• Assess candidate sites against regulatory jurisdiction, utilities, infrastructure, workforce, and supply chain
• Determine which authority inspects the site and what its regime demands for the intended markets
• Evaluate environmental, zoning, hazardous-material, and expansion constraints
• Run the feasibility and due-diligence study that supports the site recommendation

Who is involved

• Project sponsor, site-selection lead, and real-estate/engineering advisors
• Regulatory affairs and quality assessing the jurisdiction and inspection regime
• Supply-chain, EHS, and HR assessing logistics, permitting, and workforce

What quality owns

• Judgement on whether the jurisdiction’s regulatory and inspection regime is acceptable for the target markets
• Whether the site can support the required cleanroom classifications and utility qualities

What engineering owns

• Utility, infrastructure, and constructability assessment of each candidate site
• The technical feasibility of achieving the required classifications on the site

What operations owns

• Workforce availability, logistics, and supply-chain feasibility for routine operation
• Operating-cost and reliability assumptions tied to the location

Management decisions

• Selection of the site and the acceptance of its regulatory and infrastructure profile
• Property acquisition or lease commitment

Deliverables

• Site-selection assessment and recommendation
• Regulatory-jurisdiction and inspection-regime analysis
• Feasibility/due-diligence report

Evidence to retain

• The site-selection decision record and its basis
• The jurisdiction and inspection-regime analysis of record

Common risks

• A site chosen for land or labour cost with an unassessed regulatory penalty
• Utilities or infrastructure that cannot reach the required qualities
• Workforce or supply-chain gaps that surface only after the commitment

Gate criteria to advance

• A site that supports the required classifications, utilities, and expansion
• The jurisdiction’s regulatory and inspection regime understood and acceptable
• Supply-chain and workforce feasibility confirmed

Expensive if deferred

• Regulatory-jurisdiction assessment — it determines who inspects and how, and cannot be changed after acquisition
• Utility and infrastructure feasibility — a shortfall found later forces costly off-site solutions

Business effect

A site chosen for cost alone can carry a regulatory or infrastructure penalty that outlasts the saving — the jurisdiction determines which authority inspects and how.

Greenfield vs brownfield

Site selection is a full phase for greenfield; on a brownfield project the site is a given, so the work becomes assessing whether the existing location and its licence can absorb the new scope.