Glencar will deliver the £150m vaccine manufacturing facility at the Harwell Science and Innovation campus in Oxfordshire
Glencar has announced that it will deliver the vaccine hub, a £150m Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.
Construction will begin this year, with the facility due to become operational in 2025, subject to planning and regulatory approvals.
The Harwell vaccine hub will create hundreds of jobs in research and construction across Oxfordshire
The investment will create hundreds of jobs across Oxfordshire and the UK and it will cement Harwell Campus as a national health tech hub for the pioneering research and development of mRNA and other nucleic acid therapeutics.
The MITC development will encompass a research, development and manufacturing facility, pioneering research and development of mRNA and other nucleic therapeutics for a wide range of respiratory diseases, pending regulatory assessment and license.
Offsite modular manufacturing will be utilised in the development
The new facility will also include a clinical biomarker laboratory, a prefabricated modular laboratory constructed in Northumberland which will then be installed on the campus.
Commenting on the project Eddie McGillycuddy, CEO said: “Having successfully delivered a large pharmaceutical project in the region and established an office within the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, we are absolutely delighted to now be delivering this pioneering research and development facility.
“Life science and pharmaceutical projects are complex, controlled environments that require significant design and engineering ability to ensure they are delivered correctly. We have expanded our specialist team to push forward and make these facilities a cornerstone of our continued growth in the coming years.
“We very much look forward to working with the team at Harwell, Moderna and Merit to develop this important new facility and further expand the thriving health tech cluster at Harwell”.
Darius Hughes, UK general manager at Moderna, said: “We are delighted to reach this important milestone with Harwell and our lab build partners, Merit and building contractors Glencar. We look forward to joining the Harwell Campus health tech cluster and contributing to the UK’s science and innovation community through investments in R&D.”
