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Barnard Castle Aseptic Manufacturing Facility .

A state-of-the-art, highly complex pharmaceutical facility, the new build Aseptic Manufacturing Facility at Barnard Castle will secure the future of aseptic filling of vials and syringes plus the handling of cold chain products for the next 10-20 years.

Barnard Castle Aseptic Manufacturing Facility

Highlights .

  • Industry leading project delivery, one cohesive project team

  • Future proofing through flexible, individual modules

  • One fully coordinated model integrating design packages and specialist equipment 

  • Asset data for automation systems and facilities management

A state-of-the-art, highly complex pharmaceutical facility, the new build Aseptic Manufacturing Facility at Barnard Castle will secure the future of aseptic filling of vials and syringes plus the handling of cold chain products for the next 10-20 years.

Barnard Castle is one of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) largest secondary manufacturing sites, employing around 1,000 people and supplying nearly half a million packs of products per day to 140 global markets. In 2016, GSK announced a major investment in the site, including the new advanced aseptic manufacturing facility, Q Block, which will deliver their pipeline of new biopharmaceutical products. 

BakerHicks provided multi-disciplinary design services for the scheme design of Q Block and were the lead designer for the delivery phase of the project, working alongside the GSK Engineering team, SES Engineering Services, Star Refrigeration, Turner & Townsend, Daldrop and McLaughlin & Harvey. They also provided multi-disciplinary design services for a cold store and purified water plant extension.

Services .

With exacting regulatory standards, it was vital that quality was guaranteed and tight control maintained by the GSK team over the build process and schedule. This needed a high degree of coordination and collaboration from the offset. GSK’s integrated project delivery (IPD) approach was a central element to the success of the project, ultimately leading to efficiencies and minimising risk. 

As part of this approach, BakerHicks also provided support and technical advice throughout the construction stage, with a dedicated Lead Designer and BIM Manager based on site. This allowed them to use their experience and knowledge of designing facilities of this type to support and challenge the other IPD partners on the project to achieve the best solution. 

Ensuring the whole team could engage with the design process is a key part of IPD and BIM software was instrumental in achieving this. In addition to coordinating the project, BIM was used to provide digital asset management, supporting GSK’s IPD philosophy. BakerHicks managed one central, fully coordinated model which integrated models from separate design packages and specialist equipment providers, informing the construction of the facility. This not only ensured full design integration, it also allowed the team to detect and resolve any clashes and respond to any on-site questions quickly and proactively.  

GSK are an innovative client and aren’t afraid to push boundaries to drive better project delivery. This flagship project is a prime example of what this approach can achieve. Making full use of technology, such as the unprecedented level of BIM integration for the type of project, enabled the successful coordination of the team and design on what is a large-scale and highly complex facility. The end result futureproofed the design of GSK’s biopharmaceutical sites across the world, delivering them significant cost savings on future design.

The investment in biopharmaceuticals is critical to the future of pharmaceuticals and this is a flagship project for global investment. The idea is to replicate the design globally on secondary sites, building in the flexibility within individual modules, but also future-proofing the design for at least 10-20 years without the risk of drug regulatory impact, hence reducing future design costs
COLIN DRIVER Project Manager, GSK

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