3PM part of Consortium to Design New Cell Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre

3PM part of Consortium to Design New Cell Therapy Catapult Manufacturing Centre

by Rob Burborough

Supporting growth of UK cell therapy industry

3PM worked with a consortium of companies to complete the RIBA Stage 3 design: MSPS to provide mechanical and engineering, civil and structural and CDM service; The Fairhursts Design Group as project architects; and Gardiner & Theobald as cost managers,

The large-scale GMP manufacturing centre, due to open in 2017, will be used by companies for the manufacture of late-phase clinical trial material and initial commercial supply of advanced therapeutic medicinal products including cell and gene therapies.

Robert Burborough, partner at 3PM comments that this is a fantastic project: “The centre will change the scientific landscape for targeted cell technology and we are very proud as a team to be involved.’

Simon Steed, associate director building services of MSPS, adds that the consortium team was chosen for its combined expertise in designing a Class B environment facility: “The design will allow for further growth and business efficiency,” he says.

Mark Adey, director at The Fairhursts Design Group explains its brief was to develop a flexible and collaborative working environment that would provide cell therapy researchers with an opportunity to lease high quality clean room facilities in the heart of a world-leading innovation campus: “It is an incredibly complex scheme made even more challenging by the tight timescales and budgets involved, but we are thrilled to be a part of it and look forward to working with the wider development team to take the project through to completion.”

Keith Thompson, CEO of the Cell Therapy Catapult, said: “The large-scale GMP manufacturing centre is instrumental in our goal to transform the UK cell and gene therapy industry, advancing research into commercially viable and investible therapies. It will enable companies to operate at the scale needed to support Phase III clinical trials.”

The new facility is being built on the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst campus, Hertfordshire, and will create up to 150 new jobs and provide consistent and reliable transport of products into the European Union within 24 hours.