Work starts early on Harwell vaccine manufacturing centre
Glencar Construction has started work ahead of schedule to build a highly specialist facility that will house the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) at Harwell in Oxfordshire. VMIC, a not for profit organisation, will provide the country’s first bespoke strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability.
A rapidly accelerated programme will aim to see the 7,000 square metre state-of-the- art facility opening its doors in 2021, ahead of the original scheduled date in 2022.
Eddie McGillycuddy, Managing Director of Glencar Construction said: “We have made an accelerated start and reduced our construction programme with the support of our partners, making this project an excellent example of all that is good about our industry.”
Ground works began on the site at Harwell Campus in early April and have focused on site clearance, preparing the site for construction and the early order of the steelwork. Glencar expect to see the basebuild ready for early access for fit-out, in late July/early August. Design and fit out are underway and led by WHP Engineering.
Dr Matthew Duchars, Chief Executive of VCMI said:“Whilst no-one could have predicted the Covid-19 outbreak we are doing all we can to fast track the build so VMIC is set-up to offer long-term support to the UK’s future vaccines needs.
“As well as working with the Harwell team and contractors to deliver the build rapidly ahead of schedule, VMIC scientists and engineers are working round the clock as part of the BIA CoViD19 Taskforce, and alongside Oxford University advising on manufacturing options of the vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, which has recently opened for trial.”
Cliff Dare, Chief Operating Officer of Harwell Campus Management team and Development Manager for the VMIC build said: “This is not a straightforward build and fit out; it is a complex advanced centre of technology andthat throws up its own particular challenges. One way we are addressing this is by looking at novel strategies for developing fit out / technologies, including off-site manufacture that will sit within thebuilding to be developed alongside groundworks.”
VMIC will occupy a prominent location on the 700-acre Harwell Campus home to 6,000 people across ~225 organisations [with 30 universities represented onsite]. As a pillar organisation with the Harwell HealthTec Cluster (58 organisations, collectively employing 1,250 people), VMIC will be co-locatedwith the UK’s open access National Laboratories, including the Diamond Light Source and The Rosalind Franklin Institute as well as innovative start-ups/ SMEs through to multinationals working in the global and UK Life Sciences sector.
VMIC was established by University of Oxford, Imperial College and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with support from industrial partners, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Johnson and Johnson, and GE Healthcare. The Centre’s main funding comes through a £65 million grant from UK Research and Innovation, as part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
