Upperton breaks ground on £15m manufacturing facility
Upperton Pharma Solutions, a UK contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced that it had begun construction of its manufacturing headquarters. The facility will cover 50,000-square-feet and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2023.
The site will have the capability to produce a range of dosage forms, including solids, liquids, semi-solids, nasal, and inhaled products. It will also be able to support early formulation development, provide clinical trial materials from Phase I to III, and ‘niche-scale’ commercial manufacturing.
Upperton stated that the facility design, equipment procurement and containment capabilities are aligned with larger scale process trains, supporting batch scales of up to 250kg. Last year, the company outlined that the project would cost approximately £15m ($18.5m), and would increase the CDMO’s good manufacturing practice (GMP) manufacturing space 10-fold.
The facility will be based within Trent Gateway Business Park in Beeston, UK, which is located less than two miles from Upperton’s current headquarters. In total, the site will host ten GMP manufacturing suites, quality control laboratories, and dedicated analytical and formulation development laboratories with pilot plant facilities.
Once fully operational, the facility will create approximately 150 full-time jobs.
Seamless transition
CEO of Upperton, Nikki Whitfield, said, “This plant has been in the planning for almost twelve months, so to see the plans finalised and work start on the site is hugely satisfying not only to us as a business but also for our customers as we can now offer them a seamless transition from early development to clinical trials and commercial manufacturing, all at the one site”.
Upperton appointed T-Squared to handle the design and build of the development of the site as the principal contractor. T-Squared has worked with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Catalent, and Public Health England to construct suitable facilities, with the company stating that it offers a turnkey, end-to-end solution for dedicated facilities.
Upperton’s manufacturing space will be housed across four separate units at the Trent Gateway location in Nottingham, taking the largest portion of space of the current clients.
According to Trent Gateway, the units have been designed to be green, which means that the space has 18.8% less CO2 emissions over UK 2013 buildings regulations. Features of the site include low air permeability design, 15% warehouse roof lights increasing natural lighting, insulated cladding and roof materials.
