The new facility is the largest Thermo Fisher centre in the North of England and one of its biggest in the UK. The global company manufactures products used daily in pharmaceutical, biomedical, chemical, and hospital labs around the world.
In addition to being a Centre of Excellence for Anatomical Pathology, the new facility is a manufacturing and r&d Centre of Excellence for Thermo Fisher’s Chromatography Consumables, which are used in laboratories specialising in chromatographic analysis.
The facility, which prior to refurbishment was used for the manufacture of toothpaste, contains dedicated labs for the production and classification of porous spherical silica and production suites that will enable the company to grow the manufacturing of bonded phase materials used in chromatography columns.
It also includes a large electrostatic discharge (ESD) protected area for product assembly with antistatic vinyl flooring. A new mezzanine floor has been added above the assembly area, providing office space on the first floor. The columns supporting this floor carry within them all the required utilities and services, making the reorganisation of the main product assembly area very flexible. JRD Construction Ltd of Ilkeston, Derbyshire was the main contractor.
To reduce any handling risks, major solvents are piped to the point of use in the fume cupboards and taken away to a dedicated Atex rated IBC separate from the main building.
Many new design implementations have been introduced to help the company improve accuracy and batch to batch and column to column reproducibility.
Giulio Cerroni, the company’s vice president of Anatomical Pathology commercial operations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, said of the new facility: “This is an important investment for the company, and we are already considering the next phase of development for the site.”
T + 44 (0) 800 018 9396 www.thermo.com/pathology
