SES Engineering Services has started work on a new £94 million aseptic manufacturing facility in Durham.

The 11,500sqm Q Block aseptic centre is being developed in Barnard Castle, Durham for global pharmaceutical company, GSK.

The facility will allow the company to further add to its broad range of products for HIV, respiratory and oncology treatment.

SES has now started works at the site to install all mechanical and electrical (M&E) building services, which will benefit from offsite technology. In addition, 40% of the building's shell including precast units, wall systems, steel framework and 95% of a 2.5ksqm clean room will be created offsite.

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Work is anticipated to be completed in November next year.

Steve Joyce, SES' business director North and Scotland, said: "GSK is a forward-thinking company which identified and appreciated the importance of getting SES onboard at the earliest opportunity.  This early engagement coupled with our BIM Level 2 experience and bespoke offsite capability, via our offsite manufacturing facility, Prism, allowed us to influence the M&E design at the outset of the project.

"As a result, a significant 60 percent of the MEP services will be produced offsite which meets a key target of GSK's brief to replicate the building elsewhere in the world.

"I believe Q Block is an excellent example of offsite construction being used to best effect and I am delighted that SES has made such a positive contribution to the scheme."

Colin Driver, Project Manager at GSK, added: "This is an exciting phase in the ongoing development of our Barnard Castle manufacturing facility. The investment in biopharmaceuticals is critical to the future of pharmaceuticals and this is a flagship project for global investment."

(LM/MH)